NDIA Accountability Project

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NDIS correspondence: Request Consultation - FOI 25/26-0075

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Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process

Thank you for your correspondence of 30 July 2025 in which you requested access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). Thank you also for your correspondence on 8 and 15 August 2025, which helped clarify the scope of your request. Apologies are sincerely extended for the delay in meeting this deadline.

Scope of your request

You have requested access to the following documents:

“…I would like to request any guidelines, FAQ, knowledge articles and practical guides written specifically for Plan management service providers between 01/01/2024-08/07/2025. Please exclude any documents that is (or was) available to the public through NDIA’s website.

I would also like to request any emails regarding the application of legislative changes and any clarification of plan management roles and responsibilities sent from NDIA to plan management service providers during this period…”

Practical refusal

I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.

I am writing to advise 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 due to its broad scope. This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’ under section 24AA of the FOI Act.

On this basis, I intend to refuse your request.

However, before I make a final decision, 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

I have conducted a preliminary search for documents likely to be relevant to your request. This search, including preliminary searches undertaken by the Service Guidance and Provider Engagement teams, has identified that the NDIA holds a large number of documents within the scope of your request.

In relation to the first part of your request, being for “any guidelines, FAQ, knowledge articles and practical guides written specifically for Plan management service providers between 01/01/2024—08/07/2025, excluding documents available to the public through the NDIA website,” materials of this nature are generally published for transparency. On preliminary review, it appears that relevant documents of this type have already been made available to the public, including via the NDIA FOI disclosure log. As such, it is considered that there are unlikely to be additional documents within scope beyond those already publicly available on the NDIA website, including via the FOI disclosure log (FOI disclosure log | NDIS).

Further, information relating to providers and plan managers, including regulatory guidance and oversight material, is primarily the responsibility of the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (the Commission), rather than the NDIA. (Homepage | NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission). The Commission is the independent regulator of NDIS providers and is responsible for establishing and enforcing standards of quality and safety, registering providers, handling complaints, and undertaking compliance and enforcement activities in relation to providers and plan managers.

By contrast, the NDIA administers the National Disability Insurance Scheme, including determining participant eligibility, developing and approving plans, and funding supports. While the NDIA engages with providers and plan managers in relation to scheme delivery and operational matters, it does not have primary responsibility for regulatory guidance or oversight of provider conduct. Accordingly, to the extent that your request seeks detailed guidance or clarification of roles and responsibilities in a regulatory or compliance context, such information would more appropriately fall within the functions of the Commission. This supports the view that the NDIA may not hold significant additional material within scope beyond what is already publicly available.

In relation to the second part of the request, seeking “any emails regarding the application of legislative changes and any clarification of plan management roles and responsibilities sent from NDIA to plan management service providers during this period,” the scope is extremely broad. This component would likely capture a significant volume of email correspondence across multiple business areas over an extended period.

On my reasonable estimate, I consider that there is more than 500 pages worth of material that falls within the scope of your request as currently worded. At a conservative estimate of

Request consultation process

You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.

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.

To reduce the scope of your request, you might like to consider refining the request to the following:

  • Limiting the request to formal communications issued by the NDIA, such as official guidance, bulletins, or circulars, rather than all email correspondence;
  • Narrowing the date range to a shorter, clearly defined period;
  • Specifying particular legislative changes, policies, or topics of interest;
  • Identifying specific NDIA business areas (for example, Provider Engagement or Scheme Policy);

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,

we will recommence processing it.

Please note that the time taken to consult with you regarding the scope of your request is not taken into account 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 Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division National Disability Insurance Agency GPO Box 700 CANBERRA ACT 2601

If you do not contact me within this period, that is by 17 June 2026, I will issue you a formal decision letter that confirms my reasons for refusing your request.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely

Kate Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Access and Privacy Branch Reviews & Information Release Division National Disability Insurance Agency