NDIS — FOI 24/25-2110 [LEXD 690]: Notification of Decision | FOI release material

Our reference: FOI 24/25-2110 [LEXD 690]

GPO Box 700 Canberra ACT 2601 1800 800 110

27 October 2025 ndis.gov.au

Cat Right to Know

By email: foi+request-13221-c19e26fa@righttoknow.org.au

Dear Cat

Freedom of Information request - Notification of Decision

Thank you for your correspondence of 26 May 2025, requesting 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 requested access to the following documents:

…I am writing to request an unredacted copy of the documents released under FOI 24/25-0761 for the purposes of the FOI Act, along with the presentation materials referred to in the documents released.

Specifically, I am seeking:

A copy of the documents from the previous release with all sections previously redacted as irrelevant to be unredacted. Sections redacted for personal privacy can remain unchanged.

A copy of the Cost Drivers presentation materials.

A copy of the other presentation materials. Based on the reference to EI, I presume this refers to Early Intervention. I trust the document is readily identifiable regardless. If both topics are in one pack, please consider the entire pack in scope…

Processing timeframes

In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, a 30-day statutory period for processing your request commenced from 27 May 2025 with the due date for a decision on access of 25 June 2025.

I note this time has lapsed and as a result your request is taken to be a deemed refusal under section 15AC of the FOI Act. I sincerely apologise for the significant delay in providing you a decision on this request. I confirm that you do retain the right to seek an external review of this decision with OAIC – please see Attachment B of this notice for more details.

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 to 2 documents in full
grant access to 3 documents in part

In reaching my decision, I took the following into account:

Your correspondence of 29 May, 9 July, 12 August and 2 October 2025 outlining the scope of your request
The nature and content of the documents falling within the scope of your request
The provisions of the FOI Act including sections 47F
Consultations with relevant NDIA staff and external agencies
Factors relevant to my assessment of whether or not disclosure would be in the public interest

Reasons for decision

Personal privacy (section 47F)

Section 47F of the FOI Act conditionally exempts a document if its disclosure would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person.

The term “personal information“ is defined as information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not the information or opinion is true, and whether or not it is recorded in a material form.

Documents 1, 1.1 and 1.2 contain personal information of NDIA and external agency staff members, specifically their full names, work email addresses and contact phone numbers.

In determining whether disclosure of government staff personal information would be unreasonable, section 47F(2) of the FOI Act requires me to have regard to all relevant factors including:

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; and c. the availability of the information from publicly accessible sources.

In the present case, the information in question is not well-known or available from publicly accessible sources.

Given the factors referred to above, I conclude that disclosure of the relevant NDIA and external agency staff members’ personal information would be unreasonable and it is therefore conditionally exempt under section 47F of the FOI Act.

Public interest considerations – section 47F

Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act provides that access to a document covered by a conditional exemption must be provided unless disclosure would be contrary to the public interest. Section 47F is a conditional exemption.

Section 11B of the FOI Act sets out public interest factors that I must consider when deciding whether to grant access to a document. It also sets out factors that are irrelevant to that consideration; I have not taken any of these into account.

In favour of disclosure, there is the fact that the conditionally exempt material is information held by the Government. One of the objects of the FOI Act is to give the Australian community access to information held by the Government of the Commonwealth by providing a right for access to documents.

However, in my view, the disclosure under the FOI Act of the individual government staff members’ personal information would not achieve other objects of the Act. In particular, disclosure would not promote Australia’s representative democracy by increasing public participation in Government processes, or increasing public scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of the Government’s activities.

While I consider there is minimal public interest in disclosing the material in question, there is a public interest in protecting individuals’ personal privacy. This is an important right, recognised by the objects of the Privacy Act 1988 and is a factor that weighs against disclosure.

I conclude that it would be contrary to the public interest to disclose the individuals’ surnames and that this information is exempt under section 47F of the FOI Act.

Release of documents

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

Rights of review

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

If you have any enquiries about this matter, please contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.

Yours sincerely

Helen (HIL533) Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division

Attachment A

Schedule of Documents for FOI 24/25-2110

Document number	Page number	Description	Access Decision
1	1-8	Email Subject: FW: Presentations for review [SEC=OFFICIAL: Sensitive] Date: 14 June 2023	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemption claimed: s47F – personal privacy
1.1	9-11	Attachment to Document 1 NDIA feedback on Reviews EI and cost driver materials data and actuarial Date: Undated	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemption claimed: s47F – personal privacy
1.2	12-15	Attachment to Document 1 NDIA feedback on Reviews EI and cost driver materials policy and research Date: Undated	PARTIAL ACCESS Exemption claimed: s47F – personal privacy
2	16-36	PowerPoint NDIS Review: Scheme cost drivers – Access, over-servicing and support coordinators analysis Date: 30 May 2023	FULL ACCESS
3	37-53	PowerPoint NDIS Review: Early intervention deep dive Date: 26 May 2023	FULL ACCESS

Attachment B

Your review rights

Internal Review

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 Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release 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) for a review of this decision.

If you wish to have the decision reviewed by the OAIC, you may apply for review within 60 days of receiving this letter.

You can apply to the OAIC for review 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 the NDIA took in relation to your request. The Ombudsman will consult with the OAIC before investigating a complaint about the handling of an FOI request.

You can make a complaint to the OAIC using the contact details identified above, or to the Ombudsman by:

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

Your complaint should set out the grounds on which you consider the OAIC or the Ombudsman should investigate the NDIA’s handling of your FOI request.