Freedom of Information request - Notification of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of (date), requesting access, under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request.

Scope of your request

You requested access to the following documents:

• request in full

Extension of time

On (date), you agreed to a xx-day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act, making (date) the new date to provide you with a decision on access.

Search efforts

The NDIA’s XXXXX team conducted a search and identified X documents within the scope of your request.

Decision on access to documents

After examining the documents, I have decided to:

• grant access to XX document(s) in full
• grant access to XX document(s) in part
• refuse access to XX document(s) in full.

I made this decision as an authorised FOI decision maker under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.

Reasons for decision

I have decided that some information will not be released as it comprises Information that is conditionally exempt under 47F of the FOI Act, information where disclosure would be contrary to the public interest.

Delivered by the National Disability Insurance Agency

A detailed statement of the reasons for my decision is Attachment A.

Rights of review

Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at Attachment B.

A schedule of documents can be found at Attachment B.

Access arrangements

The [third party has] OR [third parties have] objected to the release of certain documents as identified within the schedule contained in Attachment B of this notice. I must thereby defer granting access to those documents until such time as the [third party has] or [third parties have] exhausted their review rights.

The [third party has] OR [third parties have] 30 business days from the date of their decision to seek an internal review of my decision to release the information in question. I will advise you if the department receives an internal or external review application.

Release of documents

The documents for release, as referred to in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment B, is/are enclosed.

Rights of review

Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at Attachment C.

If you have any enquiries about this matter, please contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.

Yours sincerely

Name Delegation Government, Risk & Legal – Complaints Management and FOI General Counsel Division

Attachment A

Statement of Reasons

FOI23/24-XXXX

Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant material deleted (section 22)

I have decided that the document contains material that is exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act. This material can generally be described as the names of third-party organisations and the personal identifying information of NDIS participants and other individuals.

Relevant Law

Under the FOI Act, a person has a legally enforceable right to obtain access to a document of an agency, 1 however a decision maker must decide whether access to a conditionally exempt document would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest. 2

Personal privacy (section 47F)

Section 47F of the FOI Act conditionally exempts a document(s) if its disclosure would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased person).

The FOI Act shares the same definition of ‘personal information’ as the Privacy Act. 3 Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

• whether the information or opinion is true or not
• whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. 4

I have identified material in the documents falling within scope of your request which contains personal information of a third party / third parties. This is the information in issue and includes ……………… I am satisfied this information meets the definition of personal information.

I consider that disclosure of this information under the FOI Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of third party information. In making this decision, I have had regard to all relevant factors, including:

• the extent to which the information is well known;
• whether the person to whom the information relates is known to be (or to have been) associated with the matters dealt with in the document;
• the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
• any other matters that the agency considers relevant. 5

Public interest considerations

Irrelevant factors

I have examined the irrelevant factors in section 11B(4) of the FOI Act and I am satisfied I have not taken into account any irrelevant factors in reaching my decision.

Factors favouring disclosure

1 Section 11(1)(a) of the FOI Act. 2 Section 11B(1)-(5) of the FOI Act. 3 Paragraph 6.127 of the FOI Guidelines. 4 Paragraph 6.128 of the FOI Guidelines. 5 Section 47F(2) of the FOI Act.

Page 3 of 101

In favour of disclosure, I have considered the factors outlined in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, and I have determined that disclosure of the information in the documents would:

• (a) promote the objects of the FOI Act (including all matters set out in sections 3 and 3A);
• (b) allow a person to access his or her own personal information.

This is because providing access to documents held by the NDIA allows for increased scrutiny, discussion, comment, and review of government-held information; and allows a person to access his or her own personal information – if requesting access to own docs with third-party info contained within.

I have therefore decided to afford significant weight to these two (2) factors favouring disclosure of the documents to you.

Factors weighing against disclosure

The FOI Act does not list any factors weighing against disclosure. These factors will depend on the circumstances. However, the inclusion of the exemptions and conditional exemptions in the FOI Act recognises that harm may result from the disclosure of some types of documents in certain circumstances.

In favour of non-disclosure, I have determined disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to:

• affect an individual’s right to privacy by having their personal information in the public domain; and
• cause a public interest harm.

This is because you have requested access to… I have been provided with …….I note there is some information in the document(s) containing personal information of third parties. Parliament’s intention to protect the privacy of individuals is evidenced by the terms of both the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth). I am thereby satisfied the disclosure of this information could reasonably be expected to:

On balance I am satisfied that disclosure of the information I have redacted from the document would be contrary to the public interest. I therefore conclude that it is exempt from disclosure.

Accordingly, I have decided to release the majority of the information with the contrary to the public interest information removed pursuant to section 47G and 47F of the FOI Act.