Briefings by Matthew Swainson
Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,
FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 includes a Ministerial Brief that records Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel, as the contact officer.
I request copies of all briefings provided to the Minister for the NDIS, and/or to the CEO of the NDIA, which record Matthew Swainson as the contact officer.
Yours faithfully,
David Wright
Thank you for your email to the National Disability Insurance Agency
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Kind regards
Freedom of Information Team
Complaints Management & FOI Branch
General Counsel Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [11][NDIA request email]
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
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Dear David Wright,
Freedom of Information Request: Acknowledgement & Extension of Time
Request
Thank you for your request of DATE, made under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (FOI Act), for copies of documents held by the National
Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your Request
You have requested access to:
"...FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 includes a Ministerial Brief that records
Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel, as the contact officer.
I request copies of all briefings provided to the Minister for the NDIS,
and/or to the CEO of the NDIA, which record Matthew Swainson as the
contact officer..."
Processing Timeframes
In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from 16 July 2025. This
30-day period expires on 14 August 2025.
The 30-day period can be extended in a number of ways, including with your
agreement.
Extension of Time Request:
Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to
process FOI requests due to a very high volume of incoming matters. I am
therefore seeking your agreement to a 30-day extension of time under
section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this extension, the new due
date for us to decide on your request will be 13 September 2025.
Please let us know if you agree by 24 July 2025.
Explanation of Extension of Time Request:
The reason I am seeking an extension of time is to ensure I preserve your
review rights under the FOI Act.
FOI applicants are normally entitled to exercise a right of internal
review if they are unsatisfied with the outcome of an FOI decision.
However, this right of review lapses if a FOI decision is not made within
the statutory timeframe. This is because if an agency doesn’t issue their
decision within the statutory timeframe, they are deemed to have refused
the request for documents. If this situation happens, it will limit your
options for formal review to only contacting the OAIC.
You are not obligated to agree to this request; you would still retain
your review rights with our regulatory body OAIC (Office of the Australian
Information Commission).
Irrelevant Information
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows an Agency to redact information from
documents if that information would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to a request for access.
Given the nature of your request, it does not seem that NDIA staff
members’ surnames and contact details would be relevant to you. Can you
please send me a reply email confirming that such details are irrelevant
to your request for access?
Action Required
Can I please request a response regarding our request for a 30-day
extension of time, by 24 July 2025.
Next steps
I have completed some preliminary work on your request; however, your
matter will be allocated to an authorised FOI decision-maker for any
further action. The decision-maker may need to contact you to discuss a
range of matters, including refining the scope of your request.
We will contact you using the email address you have provided. Please
advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or need help, please contact us
at [1][NDIA request email].
Kind regards,
Mackenzie
Triage Officer – Triage and Early Resolution
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
[2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Wright <[FOI #13410 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 15 July 2025 4:00 PM
To: foi <[NDIA request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Briefings by Matthew Swainson
[You don't often get email from
[5][FOI #13410 email]. Learn why this is
important at [6]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,
FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 includes a Ministerial Brief that records
Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel, as the contact officer.
I request copies of all briefings provided to the Minister for the NDIS,
and/or to the CEO of the NDIA, which record Matthew Swainson as the
contact officer.
Yours faithfully,
David Wright
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[7][FOI #13410 email]
Is [8][NDIA request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to National Disability Insurance Agency? If so, please contact us
using this form:
[9]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[10]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
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Dear Mackenzie
I confirm my agreement to a 30-day extension of time, making the new due date for you to decide on my request 13 September 2025.
I do not agree that NDIA staff members’ surnames and contact details are irrelevant to my request for access, because I have requested briefings by a specific staff member - Matthew Swainson.
David Wright
Dear David Wright
Thank you for your request for information.
We are writing to ask that you clarify the scope of your request because
we are unclear on which documents you are seeking access to specifically.
Scope of your request
You have requested access to:
“...FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 includes a Ministerial Brief that records
Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel, as the contact officer. I request copies
of all briefings provided to the Minister for the NDIS, and/or to the CEO
of the NDIA, which record Matthew Swainson as the contact officer..."
In order for your request to meet the requirements of the FOI Act, it must
provide enough information about the documents you are seeking to enable
us to locate them.
Based on the description you have provided, we are unsure of the
limitations of the documents you are seeking. This is because you have
referred to “the Minister” and “the CEO.” This wording is ambiguous. There
are in fact 2 current Ministers for the NDIS: the Hon Mark Butler and
Senator the Hon Jenny McAllister. Did you mean both current Ministers
only? Or did you mean any person who has held the position of Minister
including all former Ministers and any person who has acted as Minister
for the NDIS? Did you mean the current CEO specifically, or did you any
person who has held the position of CEO since the inception of the NDIS
including all former CEOs or any person who has acted as CEO of the NDIA?
In addition, you haven’t given us enough information to determine what
kind of briefings you are referring to. Do you mean only briefings stored
in our official system, [1]Parliamentary Document Management System
(PDMS), which is used to connect Australia Government agencies and
Parliament? Or do you also want to access other kinds of briefings that
may be held in other systems such as email systems?
Not all “briefings” are titled or categorised in such a way that labels
them as briefs. For example, CEO briefings may be given the categorisation
“executive communication” which encompasses not only briefings, but a vast
array of other communications like requests for travel approval. If we
cannot identify whether a document is a “briefing” from its categorisation
alone, we have no way to determine whether communication with the CEO was
a “briefing” or some other form of communication except to manually open
each document and make a subjective decision about whether the document is
a brief. This would be a manual, time-consuming process and it would
likely result in many false positives.
Could you please confirm what method we should use to confirm that Matthew
Swainson was the contact officer? I note that some briefings may list
contact officer within the document themselves, but that this information
may differ from the contact officer that is recorded in the structured
name field. It would be helpful if you could confirm which method we
should rely on. This will ensure that we provide you only the documents
you wish to access – without inadvertently excluding any.
Finally, I note that your request doesn’t contain a date range. Could you
please specify a date range? By limiting your request to a defined range,
you will ensure that your request is reasonable in size.
Do you agree to this revised scope:
o Document types: Final “Ministerial briefs” and “executive
communication”
o Parameters: Stored on PDMS only
o Recipients: Any Minister for the NDIS (including acting Ministers) OR
any CEO of the NDIA (Including acting CEOs)
o Date range: 1 July 2024 to 15 July 2025 (the date of your request)
o Contains the keywords (exact match): (“Contact officer: Matthew
Swainson” OR “Contact officer: Matt Swainson”)
Next steps
Please respond to this email by COB 20 August 2025. If we do not hear from
you by this time, I intend to issue you a practical refusal notice to try
to formally resolve the issues outlined above.
Please contact us at [2][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.
Kind regards
Laura
Assistant Director
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [3][NDIA request email]
[4]NDIA logo
[5]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[6]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
-----Original Message-----
From: David Wright <[FOI #13410 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 23 July 2025 8:53 AM
To: foi <[NDIA request email]>
Subject: Re: FOI 25/26-0105 – Your Request for Information –
Acknowledgement & Extension of Time Request [SEC=OFFICIAL]
[You don't often get email from
[7][FOI #13410 email]. Learn why this is
important at [8]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
Dear Mackenzie
I confirm my agreement to a 30-day extension of time, making the new due
date for you to decide on my request 13 September 2025.
I do not agree that NDIA staff members’ surnames and contact details are
irrelevant to my request for access, because I have requested briefings by
a specific staff member - Matthew Swainson.
David Wright
-----Original Message-----
Dear David Wright,
Freedom of Information Request: Acknowledgement & Extension of Time
Request
Thank you for your request of DATE, made under the Freedom of Information
Act 1982 (FOI Act), for copies of documents held by the National
Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your Request
You have requested access to:
"...FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 includes a Ministerial Brief that records
Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel, as the contact officer.
I request copies of all briefings provided to the Minister for the NDIS,
and/or to the CEO of the NDIA, which record Matthew Swainson as the
contact officer..."
Processing Timeframes
In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory
period for processing your request commenced from 16 July 2025. This
30-day period expires on 14 August 2025.
The 30-day period can be extended in a number of ways, including with your
agreement.
Extension of Time Request:
Unfortunately, it is currently taking us a little longer than 30 days to
process FOI requests due to a very high volume of incoming matters. I am
therefore seeking your agreement to a 30-day extension of time under
section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this extension, the new due
date for us to decide on your request will be 13 September 2025.
Please let us know if you agree by 24 July 2025.
Explanation of Extension of Time Request:
The reason I am seeking an extension of time is to ensure I preserve your
review rights under the FOI Act.
FOI applicants are normally entitled to exercise a right of internal
review if they are unsatisfied with the outcome of an FOI decision.
However, this right of review lapses if a FOI decision is not made within
the statutory timeframe. This is because if an agency doesn’t issue their
decision within the statutory timeframe, they are deemed to have refused
the request for documents. If this situation happens, it will limit your
options for formal review to only contacting the OAIC.
You are not obligated to agree to this request; you would still retain
your review rights with our regulatory body OAIC (Office of the Australian
Information Commission).
Irrelevant Information
Section 22 of the FOI Act allows an Agency to redact information from
documents if that information would reasonably be regarded as irrelevant
to a request for access.
Given the nature of your request, it does not seem that NDIA staff
members’ surnames and contact details would be relevant to you. Can you
please send me a reply email confirming that such details are irrelevant
to your request for access?
Action Required
Can I please request a response regarding our request for a 30-day
extension of time, by 24 July 2025.
Next steps
I have completed some preliminary work on your request; however, your
matter will be allocated to an authorised FOI decision-maker for any
further action. The decision-maker may need to contact you to discuss a
range of matters, including refining the scope of your request.
We will contact you using the email address you have provided. Please
advise if you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or need help, please contact us
at [1][NDIA request email].
Kind regards,
Mackenzie
Triage Officer – Triage and Early Resolution
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
[2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[9][FOI #13410 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[10]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************
References
Visible links
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3. mailto:[NDIA request email]
7. mailto:[FOI #13410 email]
8. https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific...
9. mailto:[FOI #13410 email]
10. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...
Dear Laura
Thank you for your response. I note that you have refused my request for the following reasons:
1) You are unsure of the limitations of the documents I am seeking, because “the Minister” and “the CEO” are ambiguous.
2) I haven’t provided enough information to determine what kind of briefings I am referring.
3) It is unclear what method you should use to confirm that Matthew Swainson was the contact officer.
4) My request doesn’t contain a date range.
I provide the following responses to each of these reasons, in corresponding order:
1) I am referring to all NDIS Ministers and all CEOs who occupied those roles once Mr Swainson was appointed to the position of Chief Counsel.
2) I refer to all briefings that are in the form contained in FOI 24/25-0251, document 2, i.e. formal briefing notes with standardised fields. I note that the briefing at FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 is given the file name ‘MB22-000042’. I assume all such Ministerial briefings in this form are also given a discrete briefing number in the ‘MB’ sequence, and that there is also a standardised briefing note file pathway/sequence for all briefings to the CEO. I am not requesting other forms of briefings, such as email briefings.
3) The method of confirming Mr Swainson as the contact officer would be as listed in that field of the formal briefing note. I assume ‘Contact’ (or an equivalent such title in the CEO briefing note template, should it be slightly different) is a standard field of the briefing note template, so this should be readily searchable to identify the requested briefings. Please also include all briefings where Mr Swainson’s name is listed in the ‘Cleared by’ field.
4) The date range is from the time Mr Swainson was appointed to the position of Chief Counsel.
I trust this clarifies my request and helps narrow and refine your search. If the request is still considered too large, please let me know why and I can consider how to further refine it, e.g. by a narrower date range.
Yours sincerely,
David Wright
Hi David
Thanks for your reply. It has helped me to clarify the limitations of your
request.
These are the parameters of the searches I am currently undertaking. If
you disagree with my search parameters or believe I have misinterpreted
your intention, please let me know.
System: I am only searching the PDMS system. This is the system where “MB”
matters are registered and progressed.
Document category: I am only searching records categorised as “Ministerial
Briefs” (MB) OR “Executive Communication” (EC). As I outlined in my
previous email, there is no structured category specifically for briefs to
the CEO, there is only a category called “Executive Communication” which
includes a broad range of communication, including (among other things)
requests to approve travel.
Recipient: All Ministerial Briefs are prepared for provision to the
then-Minister so there is no need to add another parameter to identify the
recipient. To identify EC briefings intended for the CEO only, I will only
search for EC documents that include the term (exact match) “Chief
Executive Brief.” If there are briefings that do not contain this exact
phrase, they will not appear in my search results.
Keywords: I will search for records that contain “Matthew Swainson” in
these structured username fields on PDMS: “contact officer” OR “last
clearing officer.” As I previously noted, there may be discrepancies
between the staff name entered into this field and the name that appears
on the final briefing document itself. This is because staff may move
roles or take leave between the date of registration and date of final
clearance. However, searching the structured name fields only is what you
instructed me to do.
Date range: You have specified the date that Matthew Swainson became Chief
Counsel as the start date. Based on my corporate knowledge, this was May
2022. Therefore, the date range will be 1 May 2022 – 15 July 2025 (the
date of your request). I am using “date registered” for my date search.
Important note: Matthew Swainson no longer occupies the position of Chief
Counsel. He is currently the Deputy CEO, Legal, Review, Actuarial and
Data. If you are seeking all briefings cleared by the person occupying the
Chief Counsel position, you will have to lodge a separate FOI request. The
roles occupied by senior executive staff is published on the NDIA website:
[1]https://www.ndis.gov.au/governance/organ...
I will give you an update when I have the search results. This may take up
to 7 days.
Kind regards
Laura
Assistant Director
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
-----Original Message-----
From: David Wright <[FOI #13410 email]>
Sent: Thursday, 14 August 2025 2:17 PM
To: foi <[NDIA request email]>
Subject: Re: FOI 25/26-0105 – Your Request for Information – Revision
of scope [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Dear Laura
Thank you for your response. I note that you have refused my request for
the following reasons:
1) You are unsure of the limitations of the documents I am
seeking, because “the Minister” and “the CEO” are ambiguous.
2) I haven’t provided enough information to determine what kind
of briefings I am referring.
3) It is unclear what method you should use to confirm that
Matthew Swainson was the contact officer.
4) My request doesn’t contain a date range.
I provide the following responses to each of these reasons, in
corresponding order:
1) I am referring to all NDIS Ministers and all CEOs who
occupied those roles once Mr Swainson was appointed to the position of
Chief Counsel.
2) I refer to all briefings that are in the form contained in
FOI 24/25-0251, document 2, i.e. formal briefing notes with standardised
fields. I note that the briefing at FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 is given
the file name ‘MB22-000042’. I assume all such Ministerial briefings in
this form are also given a discrete briefing number in the ‘MB’ sequence,
and that there is also a standardised briefing note file pathway/sequence
for all briefings to the CEO. I am not requesting other forms of
briefings, such as email briefings.
3) The method of confirming Mr Swainson as the contact officer
would be as listed in that field of the formal briefing note. I assume
‘Contact’ (or an equivalent such title in the CEO briefing note template,
should it be slightly different) is a standard field of the briefing note
template, so this should be readily searchable to identify the requested
briefings. Please also include all briefings where Mr Swainson’s name is
listed in the ‘Cleared by’ field.
4) The date range is from the time Mr Swainson was appointed to
the position of Chief Counsel.
I trust this clarifies my request and helps narrow and refine your search.
If the request is still considered too large, please let me know why and I
can consider how to further refine it, e.g. by a narrower date range.
Yours sincerely,
David Wright
-----Original Message-----
Dear David Wright
Thank you for your request for information.
We are writing to ask that you clarify the scope of your request because
we are unclear on which documents you are seeking access to specifically.
Scope of your request
You have requested access to:
“...FOI 24/25-0251, document 2 includes a Ministerial Brief that records
Matthew Swainson, Chief Counsel, as the contact officer. I request copies
of all briefings provided to the Minister for the NDIS, and/or to the CEO
of the NDIA, which record Matthew Swainson as the contact officer..."
In order for your request to meet the requirements of the FOI Act, it must
provide enough information about the documents you are seeking to enable
us to locate them.
Based on the description you have provided, we are unsure of the
limitations of the documents you are seeking. This is because you have
referred to “the Minister” and “the CEO.” This wording is ambiguous. There
are in fact 2 current Ministers for the NDIS: the Hon Mark Butler and
Senator the Hon Jenny McAllister. Did you mean both current Ministers
only? Or did you mean any person who has held the position of Minister
including all former Ministers and any person who has acted as Minister
for the NDIS? Did you mean the current CEO specifically, or did you any
person who has held the position of CEO since the inception of the NDIS
including all former CEOs or any person who has acted as CEO of the NDIA?
In addition, you haven’t given us enough information to determine what
kind of briefings you are referring to. Do you mean only briefings stored
in our official system, [1]Parliamentary Document Management System
(PDMS), which is used to connect Australia Government agencies and
Parliament? Or do you also want to access other kinds of briefings that
may be held in other systems such as email systems?
Not all “briefings” are titled or categorised in such a way that labels
them as briefs. For example, CEO briefings may be given the categorisation
“executive communication” which encompasses not only briefings, but a vast
array of other communications like requests for travel approval. If we
cannot identify whether a document is a “briefing” from its categorisation
alone, we have no way to determine whether communication with the CEO was
a “briefing” or some other form of communication except to manually open
each document and make a subjective decision about whether the document is
a brief. This would be a manual, time-consuming process and it would
likely result in many false positives.
Could you please confirm what method we should use to confirm that Matthew
Swainson was the contact officer? I note that some briefings may list
contact officer within the document themselves, but that this information
may differ from the contact officer that is recorded in the structured
name field. It would be helpful if you could confirm which method we
should rely on. This will ensure that we provide you only the documents
you wish to access – without inadvertently excluding any.
Finally, I note that your request doesn’t contain a date range. Could you
please specify a date range? By limiting your request to a defined range,
you will ensure that your request is reasonable in size.
Do you agree to this revised scope:
o Document types: Final “Ministerial briefs” and “executive
communication”
o Parameters: Stored on PDMS only
o Recipients: Any Minister for the NDIS (including acting Ministers) OR
any CEO of the NDIA (Including acting CEOs)
o Date range: 1 July 2024 to 15 July 2025 (the date of your request)
o Contains the keywords (exact match): (“Contact officer: Matthew
Swainson” OR “Contact officer: Matt Swainson”)
Next steps
Please respond to this email by COB 20 August 2025. If we do not hear from
you by this time, I intend to issue you a practical refusal notice to try
to formally resolve the issues outlined above.
Please contact us at [2][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.
Kind regards
Laura
Assistant Director
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [3][NDIA request email]
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and emerging.
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2. mailto:[NDIA request email]
6. mailto:[FOI #13410 email]
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Thanks Laura
As regards your comment 'To identify EC briefings intended for the CEO only, I will only search for EC documents that include the term (exact match) “Chief Executive Brief.” If there are briefings that do not contain this exact phrase, they will not appear in my search results.'
I would think also keyword searching by 'CEO' would be useful in case that abbreviation is used instead of "Chief Executive Officer".
Also, just so I have a fuller understanding of your response, could you please let me know what 'PDMS' stands for? I assume this is the database which contains all Ministerial AND CEO briefings?
Yours sincerely,
David Wright
Hi David
I can search for documents containing “CEO” if you wish me to. But I
advise against it right now. This is because the term “CEO” is likely to
appear in the body of other documents if they mention the CEO, but were
not sent directly to the CEO.
The reason I suggested “Chief Executive Brief” is because this phrasing is
a standard title for CEO briefings specifically. In my opinion, it’s the
simplest way to identify documents where the CEO was the intended
recipient. Having said that, there are always downsides to doing a content
search using an exact phrase so I am always open to suggestions.
My advice is to wait for the search results. If the preliminary search
results are unreasonably large, then it won’t be in your interest to
expand the search terms.
I hope this all makes sense. Right now, my advice is to wait and see how
many documents we find. Please let me know if this is okay as a temporary
course of action.
What is PDMS?
PDMS stands for Parliamentary Document Management System. I shared a link
with you on Wednesday that explained a little bit about PDMS, but the
Right to Know platform is absolutely atrocious at displaying links, so I
understand it if you overlooked it!
In short: many Government Agencies and Minister’s offices use the PDMS
system as a way to share information. The PDMS system was introduced in
2013 and is currently used by 70 Australian Government Agencies.
Here are a few public links where you can learn more about the PDMS
system:
o https://www.finance.gov.au/government/wh...
o https://architecture.digital.gov.au/desi...
You will be able to find out even more about the system by googling
“PDMS.”
I hope this helps!
Kind regards
Laura
Assistant Director
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [1][NDIA request email]
[2]NDIA logo
[3]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[4]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
-----Original Message-----
From: David Wright <[FOI #13410 email]>
Sent: Friday, 15 August 2025 1:35 PM
To: foi <[NDIA request email]>
Subject: RE: FOI 25/26-0105 - Your Request for Information - Revision of
scope [SEC=OFFICIAL]
Thanks Laura
As regards your comment 'To identify EC briefings intended for the CEO
only, I will only search for EC documents that include the term (exact
match) “Chief Executive Brief.” If there are briefings that do not contain
this exact phrase, they will not appear in my search results.'
I would think also keyword searching by 'CEO' would be useful in case that
abbreviation is used instead of "Chief Executive Officer".
Also, just so I have a fuller understanding of your response, could you
please let me know what 'PDMS' stands for? I assume this is the database
which contains all Ministerial AND CEO briefings?
Yours sincerely,
David Wright
-----Original Message-----
Hi David
Thanks for your reply. It has helped me to clarify the limitations of your
request.
These are the parameters of the searches I am currently undertaking. If
you disagree with my search parameters or believe I have misinterpreted
your intention, please let me know.
System: I am only searching the PDMS system. This is the system where “MB”
matters are registered and progressed.
Document category: I am only searching records categorised as “Ministerial
Briefs” (MB) OR “Executive Communication” (EC). As I outlined in my
previous email, there is no structured category specifically for briefs to
the CEO, there is only a category called “Executive Communication” which
includes a broad range of communication, including (among other things)
requests to approve travel.
Recipient: All Ministerial Briefs are prepared for provision to the
then-Minister so there is no need to add another parameter to identify the
recipient. To identify EC briefings intended for the CEO only, I will only
search for EC documents that include the term (exact match) “Chief
Executive Brief.” If there are briefings that do not contain this exact
phrase, they will not appear in my search results.
Keywords: I will search for records that contain “Matthew Swainson” in
these structured username fields on PDMS: “contact officer” OR “last
clearing officer.” As I previously noted, there may be discrepancies
between the staff name entered into this field and the name that appears
on the final briefing document itself. This is because staff may move
roles or take leave between the date of registration and date of final
clearance. However, searching the structured name fields only is what you
instructed me to do.
Date range: You have specified the date that Matthew Swainson became Chief
Counsel as the start date. Based on my corporate knowledge, this was May
2022. Therefore, the date range will be 1 May 2022 – 15 July 2025 (the
date of your request). I am using “date registered” for my date search.
Important note: Matthew Swainson no longer occupies the position of Chief
Counsel. He is currently the Deputy CEO, Legal, Review, Actuarial and
Data. If you are seeking all briefings cleared by the person occupying the
Chief Counsel position, you will have to lodge a separate FOI request. The
roles occupied by senior executive staff is published on the NDIA website:
[1][5]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
I will give you an update when I have the search results. This may take up
to 7 days.
Kind regards
Laura
Assistant Director
Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch
Reviews and Information Release Division
National Disability Insurance Agency
E [2][NDIA request email]
[3]NDIA logo
[4]LGBTIQA+ rainbow graphic
The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging.
[5]Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags graphic
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[6][FOI #13410 email]
This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:
[7]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**********************************************************************
IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for the use of the intended recipient only and
may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable and/or
subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure,
dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon,
this information is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you
have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately
and delete all electronic and hard copies of this transmission together
with any attachments. Please consider the environment before printing this
e-mail
**********************************************************************
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[NDIA request email]
5. https://www.ndis.gov.au/governance/organ...
6. mailto:[FOI #13410 email]
7. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...