Freedom of Information request — Notice of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of 29 November 2025, 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:

• FOI 24/25-0514 (document 2) contains the research paper ‘Reducing Applied Behaviour Analysis over time’.

Page 1 of the document provides the following information about the preparation and approval of the document (with surnames redacted):

• Requestor: Stan
• Endorsed by: Naomi
• Researcher: Stephanie, Aaron
• Cleared by: Stephanie

(I assume the Researcher ‘Stephanie’ and Cleared by ‘Stephanie’ are two different people).

I request all communications by or with Stan, Naomi, Stephanie, Aaron and Stephanie - amongst themselves, or by any of these people with anyone else at the NDIA - concerning this research paper.

I also request all draft copies of the paper which were prepared prior to its final approval.

Surnames are not relevant to my request - they can be redacted from any documents provided to me…

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 29 November 2024, the original due date for your request was 30 December 2025.

Searches conducted

Searches were conducted by the Technical Advice and Practice Improvement Branch for documents relevant to the scope of your FOI request. As a result of this search, eight (8) documents were located that fall within the scope of your request; this search was undertaken between 22 February and 05 May 2025 and was overseen by senior staff.

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 part to 8 documents in accordance with section 22 – access to edited copies with exempt 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 of the FOI Act.

In addition, I can advise no documents were located during searches relevant to:

“…I also request all draft copies of the paper which were prepared prior to its final approval…”

Therefore, I have also decided to refuse access to information relevant to the above scope pursuant to 24A of the FOI act on the basis that documents cannot be located or do not exist.

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,

Kate (KIM627) A/Assistant Director Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division

Attachment B

Statement of Reasons

FOI 24/25-0856

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.

On 09 December 2024, you confirmed via email that you had no objections to surnames and contact details of NDIS staff being considered irrelevant to the scope of your request.

I have identified irrelevant material within document 7 related to research papers which is not within the scope of your request. I am satisfied that it is reasonably practicable to remove this material and release the documents to you in material form.

REFUSAL UNDER 24A

I have refused access to the information you requested under section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that documents are unlocatable or do not exist.

Relevant Law

Under the FOI Act, a person has a right to be given access to documents of an agency. However, the right of access is subject to limitations, including grounds for refusal of access. Section 24A of the FOI Act states that an agency may refuse a request for access to a document if all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document and the agency is satisfied that the document cannot be found or does not exist.

Searches for documents

After reviewing the scope of your request, I identified the need to make enquiries with the NDIA’s Technical Advice and Practice Improvement Branch for documents relevant to your scope.

Based on the search results from the relevant business areas and consultation with subject matter experts, I am satisfied that documents relevant to this part of your request do not exist:

  “…I also request all draft copies of the paper which were prepared prior to its final approval…”

I therefore refuse access to the information under section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that the information cannot be found or does not exist.

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

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. This includes the names and contact details of staff of the agency.

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 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 comprise an internal email address. I consider this to be information of the agency, and if released would have an effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of the agency. To release this email to the broader public could erroneously indicate that this is an email address to be used by the public to engage with the agency, which is not the intent or purpose.

Accordingly, I consider the release of this information would 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 and 47F 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

Your review rights

As this matter was a deemed refusal, internal review of this decision is not an option. However, if you have concern with any aspect of this decision, please contact the NDIA FOI team by email foi@ndis.gov.au or by post:

• Freedom of Information Section
• Complaints Management & FOI Branch
• General Counsel Division
• National Disability Insurance Agency
• GPO Box 700
• CANBERRA ACT 2601

Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

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

If you wish to have the decision reviewed by the OAIC, you may apply for the review, in writing, or by using the online merits review form available on the OAIC’s website at www.oaic.gov.au, within 60 days of receipt of this letter.

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

• Online: www.oaic.gov.au
• Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
• Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992 (local call charge)

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 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 identified above. Your complaint to the Ombudsman can be directed to:

• Phone: 1300 362 072 (local call charge)
• Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au

Your complaint should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered that the actions taken in relation to the request should be investigated.