Freedom of Information request — Notification of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of 12 February 2025, in which you requested access to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).

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:

“Dear National Disability Insurance Agency,

The document

https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.righttoknow.org.au%2Frequest%2F11959%2Fresponse%2F40074%2Fattach%2F7%2FFOI%252024.25%25200252%2520Decision%2520Document.pdf&data=05%7C02%7Cfoi%40ndis.gov.au%7C2b6b82a81f0a4e05778208dd4aebac7b%7Ccd778b65752d454a87cfb9990fe58993%7C0%7C0%7C638749098494711386%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=cZj7pcZad8fjiz6KTkYCNDNp802bAMLfP9PI%2F4Q3C%2Bo%3D&reserved=0 identifies $37m in NDIS legal costs for its AAT cases in the 23-24 Financial Year.

Please provide, under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, all information cost-benefit aspects of this expenditure.

Yours faithfully,

Bob Buckley”

Processing period

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 12 February 2025, the original due date for your request was 14 March 2025.

We have been experiencing processing delays and were not able to provide you with our decision by the due date. Consequently, we are deemed to have refused your application under section 15AC of the FOI Act. I sincerely apologise for the delay in releasing this decision to you and thank you for your patience while we progressed your application.

We have continued processing your request. In the interests of not causing any further delays, I have decided not to apply for an extension to the processing period from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) under section 15AC of the FOI Act. Therefore, internal review of this decision is not an option. However, you retain the right to request an external review with the OAIC. Please see Attachment B for more information about your rights of review.

Scope of your request and our Search efforts

I note that your request specially seeks access to “…all information cost-benefit aspects of this expenditure…”

On 28 March 2025, we sent you a request for consultation under section 24AB of the FOI Act, wherein we advised that our enquiries with the NDIA’s Legal Operations Team indicated that the terms of your request, as it currently stands, are unclear and do not enable us to identify the specific documents you are seeking. We therefore advised that the work involved in processing your request in its current form would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the NDIA from its other operations.

To help us identify the documents, we sought clarification on what you meant by the terms “all information cost benefit aspects of this expenditure” and requested more specific information about the exact documents you are interested in regarding the ‘cost-benefit aspects of this expenditure’.

On 18 April 2024, you provided an email response with the scope as follows:

“…I write in response to your request that I “provide more specific information about the exact documents you are interested in regarding the ‘cost-benefit aspects of this expenditure’.” My request identifies an FoI response showing the cost of 11 law firms. I believe my request ask for the following information.

the “cost” aspect relates to expenditure to complete the AAT process. There are specific costs for lawyers (already given) - I am interested in information about other amounts or estimates thereof for overall internal costs, IME costs, etc.

are there any measures of direct financial benefits arising from the AAT matters - cost savings, reduced plan budgets, metter/improved and more effective/economic services, etc.?

are there any estimates of cost benefits from these matters collectively? How is the expenditure justified financially in internal or external reports?

are there any non-financial benefits documented to justify this expenditure? If so, what are they?

I do not wish to revise my request. I hope the above explains better what information I requested…”

In my interpretation, your scope as clarified above is for documents that relate to any cost benefit analysis undertaken on the 37million expenditure of legal costs for AAT cases in the 23-24 Financial Year.

Decision on access to documents

I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act. My decision on your request and the reasons for my decision are set out below.

I engaged in search consultations with relevant staff in the NDIA’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Division in addition to the Legal Operations Team, who conducted searches of NDIA’s systems, using all reasonable search terms to identify and obtain documents for any information on cost-benefit aspects of the NDIA’s AAT expenditure.

These business areas advised that no documents relevant to the scope of your request were located as the NDIA do not conduct any cost benefit analysis for AAT/ART.

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(1) of the FOI Act provides 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.

As such, I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to locate the documents for the scope of your request and that the documents do not exist. I have, therefore, decided to refuse access to your request in accordance with section 24A(1)(b)(ii) of the FOI Act.

Rights of review

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

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 (KIM 627)

A/Assistant Director – Freedom of Information

Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch

Reviews and Information Release Division

Attachment A

Your review rights

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.