Our reference: FOI 22/23-1566
24 May 2023
Watson Norwood By email: foi+request-10278-05daf7a8@righttoknow.org.au
Dear Watson Norwood
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 7 May 2023 in which you requested access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your request You have requested access to the following documents:
- ‘a complete copy of the departments’ Freedom of Information (FOI) logs for the period 2013-2023, including any secondary departments controlled by the agency.’
Practical refusal
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
I am writing to advise that your request does not provide enough information about the documents you are seeking as is reasonably necessary to allow us to identify them1.
On this basis, I intend to refuse your request. However, before I make a final decision, I am writing to provide you with an opportunity to revise your request. This is called a ‘request consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI Act. You have 14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Why I intend to refuse your request
On 16 May 2023, I advised you that your request did not satisfy section 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act, as the terms of your request were too broad. I asked you to clarify what you mean by ‘Freedom of Information logs’, and what information you were seeking access to. I also provided you with a link to the annual reports section located on the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website which identifies total number of applications managed by agencies. This is a mandatory reporting function and would be a different number to numbers of applications published on an agency’s disclosure log.
To date I have not had a response from you so on that basis, I am now engaging in the formal consultation process.
Request consultation process You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.
1 Section 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI Act.
Revising your request can mean narrowing the scope of the request to make it more manageable or explaining in more detail the documents you wish to access. For example, by providing more specific information about exactly what documents you are interested in, the NDIA will be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid using excessive resources to process documents you are not interested in.
You have 14 days from the date you receive this letter to contact me and do one of the following:
a. withdraw your request b. make a revised request c. indicate that you do not wish to revise the request.
During this period, you are welcome to seek assistance to revise your request. If you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal reason outlined above, I will recommence processing it.
Please note that the time taken to consult with you regarding the scope of your request is not considered for the purposes of the timeframe for processing your request.
You can contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.
Alternatively, you can reply in writing to the following address:
Freedom of Information Section Parliamentary, Ministerial & FOI Branch Government Division National Disability Insurance Agency GPO Box 700 CANBERRA ACT 2601
If you do not contact me within this period, that is by 7 June 2023, your FOI request will be taken to have been withdrawn under subsection 24AB(7) and will not be dealt with any further.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Jennifer Senior Freedom of Information Officer Parliamentary, Ministerial & FOI Branch Government Division
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