Freedom of Information request - Notice of revised decision under section 55G of the Freedom of Information Act 1982

Thank you for your correspondence of 8 March 2025, seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

I apologise for the delay in processing your request.

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

Scope of your request

You requested access to the following documents:

“1. Any documents in NDIA’s possession provided to the media by the NDIA or its ministers that include or relate to ADHD (including non-published parts such as ‘on background’), and

Any documents in NDIA’s possession provided to a parliamentarian or their office that include or relate to ADHD.

This request is limited to documents created, sent, received, or otherwise dealt with on or after 1 January 2025.”

The purpose of this letter is to notify you of my decision on your application.

Processing period

The original due date for our access decision on your FOI request was 7 April 2025. We have been experiencing processing delays and were not able to provide you with our decision by the due date. Consequently, your application was regarded as a deemed refusal under section 15AC of the FOI Act. We sincerely apologise for this.

We note that you have now applied to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for a review by the Information Commissioner (IC) of our deemed refusal.

Revised decision under section 55G

Section 55G(1)(a) of the FOI Act provides that at any time during an IC review, an Agency may vary an access refusal decision in favour of the applicant by giving access to documents in accordance with the request (revised decision).

Section 55G(2) provides that an Agency must notify the IC of the revised decision, and that decision becomes the decision under review.

Search efforts

Staff in the NDIA’s Media Branch and Ministerial and Parliamentary Team conducted searches for documents and advised they did not locate any documents relevant to the scope of your request. I have set out the reasons for this outcome in Attachment A to this letter.

Decision on access to documents

In summary, I have decided to refuse access to the information you have requested on the basis that the documents are non-existent or unlocatable pursuant to section 24A of the FOI Act.

I made this decision as an authorised FOI decision maker under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.

I have provided a detailed statement of the reasons for my decision in Attachment A to this decision notice.

In accordance with section 55G(2) of the FOI Act, I will be providing the IC with a copy of this revised decision.

If you determine that you are satisfied with this revised decision and do not require this decision to be reviewed further by the IC, please let the Agency and the OAIC know.

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

Kate (KIM627) A/Assistant Director – Freedom of Information Non Personals Team Senior Freedom of Information Officer Government, Risk & Legal – Complaints Management and FOI General Counsel Division

Attachment A

Statement of Reasons

FOI Application 24.25-1480

Refused information

I have refused access to the information you requested under section 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that documents containing such information are unlocatable or do not exist.

Relevant law

Under the FOI Act, a person has a right to be given access to documents of an agency. However, the right of access is subject to limitations, including grounds for refusal of access. Section 24A of the FOI Act states that an agency may refuse a request for access to a document if all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document and the agency is satisfied that the document cannot be found or does not exist.

Searches for documents

After reviewing the scope of your FOI application, I identified the need to make enquiries with the NDIA’s Media Branch and Ministerial and Parliamentary Team for documents relevant to the scope of your request.

For point 1 of your request, the NDIA’s Media Branch have advised that there are no documents which match the scope of your request.

For point 2 of your request, the NDIA’s Ministerial and Parliamentary Team have advised that there are no documents which match the scope of your request.

Conclusion

Based on the information I received from Media Branch and Ministerial and Parliamentary Team, I consider there are reasonable grounds to be satisfied that documents containing the information you seek do not exist. I therefore refuse access to the information under section a 24A of the FOI Act on the basis that the information is does not exist.

Attachment B

Your review rights

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 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.