Freedom of Information request — Notice of revised decision under section 55G of

the Freedom of Information Act 1982

Our reference: FOI 25-26-0805 OAIC reference: MR26/01791

                                                        GPO Box 700
                                                                                 Canberra ACT  2601
                                                                            1800 800 110

25 September 2026 ndis.gov.au

T

By email: foi+request-13738-399007e5@righttoknow.org.au

Dear T

Thank you for your correspondence of 28 September 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).

The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a revised decision on your request.

Scope of your request

You have requested access to the following documents:

        I seek access to any internal documents that discuss the differentiation or overlap
  between:
    
    - (a) psychology and occupational therapy
    - (b) psychology and speech therapy, and
    - (c) psychology and positive behaviour support.
   This includes, but is not limited to, internal policies, guidelines, frameworks, briefing
   notes, reports, position papers, training materials, reviews, or other internal

documents. I request access to draft, current, or superseded versions.

        I consent to the names and contact details of staff being redacted/withheld.

Processing history

Due to your agreement to extend the timeframe for providing you with a decision, the date by which to we were to do so was 27 November 2025. We have been experiencing processing

Deemed Refusal Decision

Due to delays, we were unable to provide our decision on your application by this date. Consequently, your application has been deemed refused under section 15AC of the FOI Act (deemed refusal decision).

On August 10, 2026, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) advised us that you had applied for a review by the Information Commissioner (IC), and they are making preliminary inquiries into the deemed refusal. We responded to those inquiries on August 13, 2026.

On August 13, 2026, we issued you with a decision where we refused access to documents based on their inability to be located or non-existence.

This decision was mischaracterised as a revised decision made under section 55G of the FOI Act. In fact, a revised decision can only occur when it results in:

• granting access to a document per request;
• relieving an applicant from liability to pay charges; or
• requiring amendment or annotation of personal information records according to the request.

As the decision dated August 13 did not produce any such effects, its characterisation as a ‘revised’ decision is inaccurate. It should instead be regarded as a “purported” decision following the initial deemed refusal.

August 25, 2026 saw your response regarding concerns about search adequacy related to the August 13 decision. You wrote: I am concerned about the adequacy of searches undertaken. The decision states that TAPIB and Service Guidance were consulted but lacks details including:

• systems/repositories searched;
• terms used during searching;
• whether shared drives, emails, training materials, archived/superseded docs were included;
• rationale behind considering these two areas solely relevant for holding pertinent documents. My original query intentionally broadened scope concerning internal material discussing differentiation/overlap between psychology & occupational therapy, speech therapy, positive behaviour support - potentially arising within planning guidance/funding duplication guidelines/allied health advice/training resources/or other operational documentation.

Revised decision under section 55G

On 4 September 2026, OAIC advised us that the IC had commenced a review of our deemed refusal decision. We responded the same day, advising OAIC that the purported decision had been issued on 13 August 2026 and informing them of your response to the same.

On 7 September 2026, we received advice from OAIC that the IC review process would consider the adequacy of the searches conducted for documents falling within scope of your request.

Revised decision under section 55G

Under section 55G(1)(a) of the FOI Act, an agency may at any time during an IC review, vary or substitute and set aside an access refusal decision in favour of an applicant, by giving the applicant access to documents in accordance with their request (revised decision).

Under section 55G(2) of the FOI Act, when an agency makes a revised decision, the agency must notify the IC of the revised decision. The revised decision then becomes the decision under review by the IC.

Search efforts

The FOI Guidelines published by the IC state that agencies should undertake reasonable searches for documents based on a flexible and common-sense interpretation of the terms of the FOI request. What constitutes taking “all reasonable steps” to find documents depends on the circumstances of each FOI request and will be influenced by the normal business practices in the agency’s operating environment.1

Agencies should take comprehensive steps to find documents having regard to their subject matter, the agencies’ current and past file management systems, their records management systems, individuals within the agency who may be able to assist with finding documents and the age of the documents.2

In an effort to locate documents falling within scope of your request, we have consulted with the NDIA’s Service Guidance Branch and Technical Advice and Practice Improvement Branch (TAPIB). The Divisional Support Officer for Service Guidance Branch advised us the

Search Consultations

Branch did not hold any documents within scope while TAPIB identified 4 documents within

tscope.

In undertaking these search consultations, knowledge of the NDIA’s operating environment

was employed. Service Guidance Branch is the area responsible for issuing guidance to

enable front line staff to make evidence-based decisions, while TAPIB is the branch

responsible for providing technical and clinical subject-matter expertise across the NDIA, particularly to staff responsible for building NDIS plans.

For the purposes of this revised decision, I have also searched the following systems for in scope documents: - the NDIA’s business system, PACE; - the Parliamentary Document Management System (PDMS); and - the course catalogue of training materials on the NDIA’s talent management system,

  LEAP.

PACE includes articles called knowledge articles, which are for the guidance of NDIA staff. I searched these articles using the search term “psychology”, which yielded one result: a knowledge article titled “Understand psychology supports”. This article was first published on 24 November 2025 and was updated on 3 September 2026. Strictly speaking, therefore, it is outside the scope of your request, which was made on 28 September 2025. However, I have exercised my discretion to provide you with copies of both versions. The article refers to the NDIA Operational Guideline “Therapy Supports”. This guideline is publicly available at OG- Therapy-supports (1).pdf.

I searched PDMS for documents containing the words “psychology occupational therapy”, “psychology speech pathology” and “psychology positive behaviour support”. The second search returned 2,347 results and the third search returned 1,089 results. I therefore re-ran those searches but narrowed them to ministerial briefings.

Each search delivered some results, but these were in the context of briefings about upcoming meetings, Ministerial visits or individual NDIS participants, rather than documents concerning the differentiation or overlap between psychology and the other treatments referred to in your request.

My search of the training materials listed in LEAP did not identify any in scope documents.

There is no reason to expect that additional documents would reside in shared drives or emails.

Revised Decision on Access to Documents

As a result of our consultations and searches, I have identified 6 documents that fall within scope of your request.

Revised decision on access to documents

I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act, including revised decisions under section 55G(1)(a).

I have decided to:

• grant access to 4 documents in full; and
• grant access to 2 documents in part.

Reasons for revised decision

In reaching my decision, I have taken into account:

• your correspondence outlining the scope of your request
• your email in response to the purported decision
• the FOI Act
• the FOI Guidelines published under section 93A of the FOI Act
• consultation with relevant NDIA staff and business areas
• the operating environment and functions of the NDIA

I have decided that some of the information in Documents 1 and 2 is irrelevant to the scope of your request. Accordingly, I have prepared edited copy of the documents in accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, with the irrelevant material removed.

A detailed statement of reasons for my decision can be found at Attachment B.

Release of documents

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

A copy of this revised decision will be provided to the IC in accordance with section 55G(2) of the FOI Act.

If you are satisfied with the outcome of this revised decision and no longer wish to proceed with an IC review of this decision, please advise the NDIA and the OAIC at your earliest convenience.

Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, including if you would like clarification

of this decision, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.

Yours sincerely

Helen [HIL533]

Senior FOI Officer

Information Access and Privacy Branch

Reviews and Information Release Division

National Disability Insurance Agency

                                                                     6

Attachment A

Schedule of Documents

FOI 25/26-0805

OAIC reference: MR26/01791

Document Page Description Access Decision Comments number number

1           1-9       Research paper: Applied behaviour          PARTIAL ACCESS               Irrelevant material removed
                           analysis and positive behaviour                                           under section 22 of the FOI
                                     support                                                         Act

                               Date: 21 July 2022

2          10-15        Research play therapy: Child-            PARTIAL ACCESS               Irrelevant material removed
                        centered play therapy for children                                           under section 22 of the FOI
                            with Autism Spectrum Disorder                                              Act

                            Date: 22 November 2022

3          16-31        Research paper: Occupational             FULL ACCESS
                     Therapy and Post Traumatic Stress
                                     Disorder

                                Date: 2 June 2026

4          32-42      Research paper: Positive behaviour           FULL ACCESS
                                     support

                               Date: 22 April 2026

                                                                                                            7

Document Information Table

Document Number	Page Numbers	Description	Access Decision	Comments
5	43-46	Knowledge article: Understand	FULL ACCESS	Document created under
				psychology supports
				section 17 of the FOI Act.
				Date: 24 November 2025
6	47-50	Knowledge article: Understand	FULL ACCESS	Document created under
				psychology supports
				section 17 of the FOI Act.
				Date: 3 September 2026

Attachment B

Statement of Reasons FOI 25/26-0805 OAIC reference: MR26/01791 Forms of access

Access to information not available in discrete or written form (section 17)

You will note from the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A that Documents 5 and 6 have been created under section 17 of the FOI Act. Section 17(1)(c) of the FOI Act provides that, to enable the release of information that is not held in discrete form in the documents of an agency, an agency can produce a written document containing that information, including through using a computer to retrieve and collate that information. The knowledge articles in PACE cannot be downloaded from that system. I therefore printed them to Adobe Acrobat so I could provide them to you. Unfortunately, some of the formatting used in the original online versions of the documents has been lost in that conversion. However, I consider the documents remain intelligible and that I have therefore been able to produce them under section 17(1)(c). I have therefore treated your request as if it were a request for access to these documents in accordance with section 17(1)(c)(i) of the FOI Act.

Access to edited copies with irrelevant material deleted (section 22)

I have identified that Documents 1 and 2 contain material that is irrelevant to the scope of your request. The irrelevant material relates to the surnames of NDIA staff members. In your original request you consented to the names and contact details of staff being redacted or withheld. In accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act, I have considered whether it is possible to delete the irrelevant material from the documents and have concluded that it is reasonably practicable to do so. Accordingly, I have prepared edited copies of the documents with the irrelevant material removed.