Our reference: FOI 24/25-0507
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
ndis.gov.au6 February 2025
Paul Carter
By email: foi+request-12154-c0492400@righttoknow.org.au
Dear Paul Carter
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 10 October 2024, in which you requested access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Scope of your request You have requested access to the following documents:
"All guidance and policy for staff in the NDIA Complaints Management & FOI Branch
on identifying, reviewing and processing documents for FOI and PIA requests
- All guidance and policy for staff in other NDIA business line areas on identifying,
reviewing and processing documents for FOI and PIA requests
- All guidance for staff in any NDIA business area about navigating the NDIS
business system and database/s for any purpose
- The FAQ referred to in FOI-2 23/24-1100 on page 23 of 61 “If you are unsure of
what advice the FOI team requires, please refer to the attached FAQ, or contact the
FOI decision maker for clarification.”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 size. 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, I 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 with stakeholders in the Complaints Management and Freedom of Information branch for documents which are likely to be relevant to your request. This search has revealed that the NDIA is in possession of more than 7 gigabytes of
1documents matching the scope of your request, not including any attachments which may be contained within those documents. The table below provides a breakdown of the document categories and estimated number of documents
| 2022 Documents – Retired resources | 43 |
| 2023 Documents – Retired resources | 22 |
| 2024 Documents | 38 |
As part of the preliminary consultation, we have identified 13 FOI training videos for staff in the information access teams. The size of a video file can vary significantly based on factors like resolution, bitrate, and compression. For example, a 1080p (Full HD) video typically has a bitrate of around 5 Mbps, which translates to approximately 20 MB per minute.
Using this estimate, the total size of all FOI training videos is below.
• 367.33 minutes of 1080p video would be approximately (367.33 \times 20 ) MB = 7346.6 MB or about 7.35 GB.
For point 3 of your requests where you seek access to “- All guidance for staff in any NDIA business area about navigating the NDIS business system and database/s for any purpose
We have interpreted this to be guidance material for all business systems and databases utilised by staff across the ### divisions. We have not conducted preliminary consults with theative divisions as yet as it is reasonable to assume that this would also generate a significant number of documents.
The documents that are assessed as being within scope of the request will then need to be reviewed for any sensitivities and possible exemption under the FOI Act and scheduled, we will need to consider any consultations and carry these out if required, a decision will need to be made on each document, and a decision letter prepared. This will significantly increase the hours that it will take an FOI officer to process your request.
As a result, I am of the view that the work involved in the processing of this request would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the NDIA from its other operations.
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 revising the scope of your request to:
I seek access to the following types of documents that are used by the NDIA Complaints Management & FOI Branch for FOI and PIA requests • “All current SOPS, task cards and guides in pdf/word format” • “All current decision letter templates”
2You 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 Complaints Management & FOI Branch General Counsel Division National Disability Insurance Agency GPO Box 700 CANBERRA ACT 2601
If you do not contact me within this period, that is by 20 February 2025, your FOI request will be taken to have been withdrawn under subsection 24AB(7) and will not be dealt with any further.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Cooper Senior Freedom of Information Officer Complaints Management & FOI Branch General Counsel Division
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