Freedom of Information request — Internal Review Decision

Our reference: IR 26/27-017 (LEXD 30672)

GPO Box 700\nCanberra ACT 2601\n1800 800 110\ndis.gov.au\n 17 September 2026\n Meaz\nBy email: foi+request-15261-9ae00436@righttoknow.org.au\nDear Meaz\n Thank you for your correspondence of 26 August 2026, in which you requested an internal review of the decision for your request FOI 6/27-0395, made by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).\n The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a decision on your request for internal review.

Original Decision\nOn 26 August 2026, you were notified of the NDIA’s decision on request for information, at Attachment A. That decision refused access to documents.

Internal Review\nYou have requested on Internal Review on the following grounds:\n

“…I am writing to request an internal review of National Disability Insurance Agency’s handling of my FOI request ‘PACE Internal Review s100 Pre-Decision Quality Check Guideline’ dated 26 August 2026 in FOI 26/27-0395.\n> My concern is that the reasons given do not adequately address the full scope of my request.\n> The request was not confined to a document titled or described as an “Internal Review Pre-Decision Quality Check”. It expressly sought documents governing eight identified functions, including:\n>

quality assurance, peer review, supervisory review or approval;\n> * critical/non-critical question sets;\n> * pass, pass-with-feedback, fail or equivalent criteria;\n> * referral, sampling, escalation, remediation and rework;\n> * feedback templates;\n> * verification or reconciliation of risk; and\n> * PACE fields, activities or audit records used to document a check and its outcome.\n>

It also expressly stated: \n> “If no document exists under the title ‘Internal Review Pre-Decision Quality Check,’ please provide all documents performing the equivalent function for section 100 internal reviews.”\n The decision states that:

“quality checks on internal review decisions are not carried out prior to decisions being made”

and then concludes that: “There are therefore no documents which refer to ‘pre-decision quality checks’ as per your request.”

That does not explain whether the searches and consultations addressed each of the functions expressly identified in the request, irrespective of whether the NDIA describes those functions internally as a “quality check”.

  I therefore request that the internal reviewer reconsider the decision and confirm whether

searches were undertaken for documents governing any pre-finalisation:

1. peer, supervisory or approval process;
2. quality or compliance review;
3. mandatory question/check set;
4. pass/fail or equivalent assessment;
5. referral, sampling or escalation process;
6. remediation or rework requirement;
7. risk verification or reconciliation requirement; or
8. PACE field, activity, workflow or audit record documenting any such process.

  If those functional searches were not undertaken, I request that further searches and
consultation with the relevant business areas be conducted.

  If, after those searches, the NDIA maintains its section 24A decision, I ask that the
revised reasons clearly state whether the Agency's position is that no final NDIA

document applicable from 1 January 2026 to 27 July 2026 governed any of those pre- finalisation functions for section 100 internal-review decisions, rather than merely that there was no process or document described as a “pre-decision quality check”.

This does not broaden my original request. It seeks review against the scope as originally lodged…

Search efforts

Searches for documents were conducted by the following NDIA teams:

Internal Reviews
Service Guidance and Practise

As a result of these searches, I can confirm that 1 additional document has been identified relevant to the scope of your request.

Decision on your request for Internal Review

I have reviewed the original decision and additional document located, and I have decided to vary the original decision to:

release 1 document in full.

In making my decision, I have considered the following:

your correspondence in relation to your original request
the Original Decision dated 26 August 2026
your grounds for seeking an internal review of Original Decision
the NDIA’s operating environment and functions
the FOI Act
the FOI Guidelines published under section 93A of the FOI Act

Release of document

The document for release, as referred to in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A, is enclosed.

I attach a copy of the documents that were considered within this Varied Decision (i.e. not any documents previously released to you).

Rights of Review

I have set out your rights to seek a review of my decision at Attachment B.

If you would like to clarify any aspects of my decision, please do not hesitate to contact me via email as foi@ndis.gov.au.

If there is further information you wish to access, I invite you to make a fresh FOI request outlining the kind of information you wish to access.

Publication

The NDIA will not publish the document released to you on our Disclosure Log as it has previously been released and is already publicly available on the NDIA Disclosure Log under FOI 25/26-1995.

As part of this review, I advised you of the document’s availability on the Disclosure Log and provided you with an opportunity to withdraw your internal review request. You subsequently confirmed that you wished to proceed with the review.

If you have any questions in relation to this request, please contact the FOI Team using the contact details above.

Kate (KGN680) Senior Freedom of Information Officer

Information Release and Privacy Branch

Reviews and Information Release Division

Schedule of Documents for IR 26/27-017

Attachment B

Document	Page Number	Description	Access
1	1-13	Knowledge Article: Submit a request for an internal review (s100)	FULL
			ACCESS

Attachment C

Your rights of review

Review by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The FOI Act also 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