NDIS correspondence: Request Acknowledgement - FOI 25/26-2149 | FOI release material

Our reference: FOI 25/26-2149 [LEXD 16807]

                                                        GPO Box 700
                                                                                 Canberra ACT  2601
                                                                            1800 800 110

9 April 2026 ndis.gov.au

By email: foi+request-14320-734373af@righttoknow.org.au

Dear TS

Freedom of Information request — Notice of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of 17 February 2026, seeking 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 have requested access to the following documents:

“Please provide me with copies of the following training documents. Where these

existing video form and access is not practical, I will accept a transcript.

Section 37 - Law enforcement and public safety.docx

Section 42 - Legal professional privilege.docx

Section 45 - Material obtained in confidence.docx

Section 47 - Trade secrets or commercially valuable information.docx

Section 47B - Commonwealth-state relations.docx

Section 47C - Deliberative processes.docx

Section 47E - Certain operations of agencies.docx

Section 47F - Personal privacy.docx Section

47G - Documents disclosing business information.docx

FOI Training Feb 2024.pptx

Training slideshow - FOI - Accessibility.pptx

Training slideshow - FOI - Sta accesses.pptx

Info Access Leadership Session 2024.05.29.pptx

    Info Access Leadership Session 2024.05.29.pptx

    Info Access Leadership Session 2024.05.29.pptx

 ORIGINAL Branch leadership sesssion 11042024.pptx

 LEX Turaround clock PowerPoint.pptx

  Resource - FOI - Guide to completing the 15AC EOT request form.docx

   Training session notes - Time and extensions under the FOI Act.docx

 How to manually generate LEX emails.pptx

  Resource - FOI - Example email to send to law firms.docx

  Resource - FOI - List of third party law firm applications.docx

   Training session notes - FOI requests from law firms.docx

  FOI Training Video - FOI requests from law firms - 2024.02.21.mp4

  FOI Training Video - FOI requests from law firms - 2024.02.21.mp4

 How to record FOI exemptions on LEX.pptx

   Training presentation - Practical Refusals - Section 4, 12 24AB - 27 March 2024 .pptx

   Training video - Practical Refusals with Rebecca `redacted` 2024.03.27.mp4”

Processing Timeframes

The FOI Act provides 30 calendar days for the processing of an FOI request after it is

received. As your valid FOI request was received on 17 February 2026, the original due date

for your request was 19 March 2026.

On 16 March and 26 March 2026, we submitted a request to the Office of the Australian

Information Commissioner (OAIC) for an extension of time pursuant to 15AB of the FOI Act.

The OAIC granted these two extensions for a total of 21-days, making the new due date to

provide you with a decision 9 April 2026.

Searches conducted

Searches were conducted by Freedom of Information Team for documents relevant to the

scope of your request.

As a result of this search, twenty-five (25) documents were located.

Where documents were located in video format, these have been converted to transcripts

pursuant to section 20(1)(d) of the FOI Act.

Decision

I am the authorised officer pursuant to section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make a decision on

this FOI request.

I have decided to:

•  Grant access in full to 10 documents; and
•  Grant access in part to 15 documents in accordance with section 22 – Access to

   edited copies with exempt or irrelevant matter deleted on the grounds that the

   deleted material is considered exempt under 47E(d) – Public interest conditional

  exemptions – certain operations of agencies, 47F – Public interest conditional

  exemptions – personal privacy, and 47G – Public interest conditional

  exemptions – business of the FOI Act

Section 22 – Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant material deleted

Section 22 of the FOI Act permits an agency to prepare and provide an edited copy of a

document where the agency has decided to refuse access to an exempt document or that to

give access to a document would disclose information that would reasonably be regarded as

irrelevant to the request for access.

I have identified exempt material in 15 documents and am satisfied that it is reasonably

practicable to remove this material and release the documents to you in an edited form.

The decision in relation to each document is detailed in the schedule of documents at

Attachment A.

A statement of reasons for this decision are set out in Attachment B.

Rights of review

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

Attachment C.

Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me

by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.

Yours sincerely

Patrick (PHO293) Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Access and Privacy Branch Reviews and Information Release Division

Attachment A

Schedule of Documents for FOI 25/26-2149

Document number	Page number	Description	Access Decision	Comments
1	1-4	SOP – Section 37 – Documents Affecting Law Enforcement and Public Safety Date: 30 January 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	1-4
2	5-7	SOP – Section 42 – Documents Subject to Legal Professional Privilege Date: 30 January 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	5-7
3	8-11	SOP – Section 45 – Documents Containing Material Obtained in Confidence Date: 30 January 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	8-11
4	12-15	SOP – Section 47 – Documents Disclosing Trade Secrets or Commercially Valuable Information Date: 30 January 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	12-15
5	16-19	SOP – Section 47B – Documents Affecting Commonwealth-State Relations Date: 30 January 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	16-19
6	20-23	SOP – Section 47C – Documents Subject to Deliberative Processes Date: 21 February 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	20-23
7	24-27	SOP – Section 47E – Certain Operations of Agencies Date: 21 February 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	24-27

Document number	Page number	Description	Access Decision	Comments
8	28-32	SOP – Section 47F – Personal Privacy Date: 21 February 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	28-32
9	33-37	SOP – Section 47G – Documents Disclosing Business Information Date: 5 February 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	33-37
10	38-81	Presentation – FOI Training Feb 2024 Date: February 2024	FULL ACCESS	38-81
11	82-94	Presentation – Information Access Team Training: Accessibility Date: June 2024	FULL ACCESS	82-94
12	95-107	Presentation – Information Access Team Training: Staff Accesses Date: June 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47E(d) – operations of agency	95-107
13	108-122	Presentation – Information Access Team Leadership Meeting Date: 11 April 2024	FULL ACCESS	108-122
14	123-138	Presentation – Complaints Management and FOI Branch Leadership Meeting Date: 11 April 2024	FULL ACCESS	123-138
15	139-141	Presentation – Information Access Team LEX Turnaround Clock Date: January 2024	FULL ACCESS	139-141

Document number	Page number	Description	Access Decision	Comments
16	142-143	Resource - FOI - Guide to Completing the 15AC EOT Request Form Date: Undated	FULL ACCESS	142-143
17	144-148	Training Notes – Time and Extensions Under the FOI Act Date: 25 January 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	144-148
18	149-150	Presentation – Lex Email Features Date: January 2024	FULL ACCESS	149-150
19	151	Resource - FOI - Example email to send to law firms Date: Undated	FULL ACCESS	151
20	152	Resource - FOI - List of third party law firm applications Date: Undated	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy s47G – business information	152
21	153-159	Training Notes – FOI Requests from Law Firms Date: 21 February 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	153-159
22	160-181	Transcript – FOI Training Video – FOI Requests from Law Firms Date: 21 February 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy s47G – business information	160-181
23	182-184	Presentation – FOI Exemptions on LEX Date: March 2024	FULL ACCESS	182-184
24	185-212	Presentation – FOI Training Sections 4, 12, 24AA and 24AB Date: March 2024	FULL ACCESS	185-212

Document number	Page number	Description	Access Decision	Comments
25	213-251	Transcript – Training Video – Practical Refusals with Rebecca `redacted` Date: 27 March 2024	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemptions claimed: s47F – personal privacy	213-251

Attachment B

Statement of Reasons

FOI 25/26-2149

REFUSAL UNDER 47F

Personal privacy (section 47F)

Section 47F(1) of the FOI Act states:

A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act 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 1988 (Cth). Paragraph 6.123 of the FOI Guidelines provide that:

Personal information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

(a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

(b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in material form or not.

Documents relevant to the scope of your request contain personal information of third parties.

In my assessment of whether the disclosure of this personal information is unreasonable, I have considered the following factors in accordance with section 47F(2) of the FOI Act:

(a) the extent to which the information is well known;
(b) 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;
(c) the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources; and
(d) the affect the release of the personal information could reasonably have on the third party.

I found that the specific personal information contained within the documents:

is not well known

is in relation to individuals that are not known to be or have been associated with the matters dealt with in the documents
is not available from publicly available sources
would have a negative effect on the individuals if released

Accordingly, I am satisfied that the documents are conditionally exempt under section 47F of the FOI Act.

REFUSAL UNDER 47G

Business Information (section 47G)

Section 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act states:

(1) A document is conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this Act would disclose information concerning a person in respect of his or her business or professional affairs or concerning the business, commercial or financial affairs of an organisation or undertaking, in a case in which the disclosure of the information:

(a) would, or could reasonably be expected to, unreasonably affect that person adversely in respect of his or her lawful business or professional affairs or that organisation or undertaking in respect of its lawful business, commercial or financial affairs;

The FOI Guidelines explain, at paragraph 6.181 that:

The operation of the business information conditional exemption depends on the effect of disclosure rather than the precise nature of the information itself. Nevertheless, the information in question must have some relevance to a person in respect of his or her business or professional affairs or to the business, commercial or financial affairs of an organisation or undertaking (s 47G(1)(a))

The Guidelines also state, at paragraph 6.191:

The use of the term ‘business or professional affairs’ distinguishes an individual’s personal or private affairs and an organisation’s internal affairs. The term ‘business affairs’ has been interpreted to mean ‘the totality of the money-making affairs of an organisation or undertaking as distinct from its private or internal affairs’.

The documents within the scope of your request contain the details of organisations who have made FOI requests. I consider this to be the business information of those organisations or undertakings.

I find that it would be unreasonable to disclose the names of those organisations, as they would have a reasonable expectation that their FOI requests would remain confidential.

Accordingly, I consider that information described is exempt under 47G(1)(a) of the FOI Act.

REFUSAL UNDER 47E(d)

Certain operations of agencies (section 47E(d))

Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act states:

A document is a conditionally exempt if its disclosure under this act would, or could reasonably be expected to, do any of the following:

(d) have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of the agency.

The FOI Guidelines, at paragraph 6.115, state:

The predicted effect must bear on the agency’s ‘proper and efficient’ operations, that is, the agency is undertaking its operations in an expected manner.

The documents within the scope of your request contain a distribution list email for the Freedom of Information Team. This email address allows important information to be communicated to the entire FOI Team. I am satisfied that disclosure would result in the misuse of this email address and may require the agency to abandon this email.

Accordingly, I consider the release of this information could reasonably have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the agency and is exempt under 47E(d) of the FOI Act.

PUBLIC INTEREST FACTORS

Public interest considerations – Section 47E, 47F and 47G

Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act states:

The agency or Minister must give the person access to the document if it is conditionally exempt at a particular time unless (in the circumstances) access to the document at that time would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.

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

I have considered the factors favouring disclosure as set out in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act. The relevant factors being whether access to the document would:

(a) promote the objects of this Act (including all the matters set out in section 3 and 3A);

(b) inform debate on a matter of public importance;

(c) promote effective oversight of public expenditure

In favour of disclosure, I have considered these factors, and have determined that disclosure of the information in the documents would promote the objects of the FOI Act (including all matters set out in sections 3 and 3A).

This is because providing access to documents held by the NDIA allows for increased scrutiny, discussion, comment, and review of government held information.

I have therefore decided to afford significant weight to this factor in favouring disclosure of the document 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.

Paragraph 6.233 of the FOI guidelines provides a non-exhaustive list of public interest factors against disclosure. The factors I find relevant to this request are that release of this information could reasonably be expected to prejudice:

the protection of an individual’s right to privacy
the interests of an individual or group of individuals
the management function of an agency

While I accept that there is a public interest in allowing scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of information held by the NDIA, there is also a strong public interest in maintaining an individual’s right to privacy, protecting the commercial value of third parties, and ensuring proper and effective communication within the agency.

On balance

I am satisfied, based on the above, the public interest factors against disclosure outweigh the factors for disclosure, and that, on balance, it is against the public interest to release the information to you. Accordingly, I find that the information is exempt under sections 47F, 47G and 47E(d) of the FOI Act.

Attachment C

Freedom of Information request – Your review rights

Internal review

The FOI Act gives you the right to apply for an internal review of this decision. The review will be conducted by a different person to the person who made the original decision.

If you wish to seek an internal review of the decision, you must apply for review, in writing, within 30 days of receiving this letter.

No particular form is required for an application for internal review, but to assist the review process, you should clearly outline your grounds for review (that is, the reasons why you disagree with the decision). Applications for internal review can be lodged by email to foi@ndis.gov.au, or sent by post to:

Freedom of Information Section

Information Access and Privacy Branch

Reviews and Information Release Division

National Disability Insurance Agency

GPO Box 700

CANBERRA ACT 2601

Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The FOI Act also gives you the right to apply for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to seek a review of this decision.

If you wish to have the decision reviewed by OAIC, you may apply for the review in writing, or by using the online merits review application form which is available on the OAIC’s website, within 60 days of receiving this letter: OAIC Review Application Form.

Applications for review can be lodged with the OAIC in the following ways:

Online: OAIC Review Application Form
Post: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

SYDNEY NSW 2001
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge)
Website: www.oaic.gov.au

Complaints to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or the

Commonwealth Ombudsman

You may complain to either the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the OAIC about the actions taken by the NDIA in relation to your request. The Ombudsman will consult with the OAIC before investigating a complaint about the handling of an FOI request.

Your complaint to the OAIC can be directed to the contact details provided above.

Your complaint to the Ombudsman can be directed to:

Phone: 1300 362 072 (local call charge)

Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au