NDIA Accountability Project

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Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process

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Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process

Thank you for your correspondence of 14 June 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).

Scope of your request

Specifically, I seek access to:

  • All correspondence between the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) and the NDIA from 1 January 2022 to the date of this request. This includes letters, emails, submissions, meeting minutes, and policy consultation responses.

  • Any internal NDIA documents, summaries, or briefing notes referencing AASW advocacy, feedback, or recommendations regarding the role, recognition, or classification of social workers under the NDIS.

This includes input or discussion relating to:

Use of line item 15_621_0128_1_3 under therapy supports

Social workers as allied health providers or professionals

AASW involvement in shaping the NDIS Supported Decision Making Policy, Safeguarding Policy, or Practice Standards

Consultation about scope of social work practice, registration groups, or exclusion / inclusion from therapy funding categories

This request is made in the public interest to understand how professional advice from the AASW is being incorporated into NDIA policies that affect participant access to social work supports.

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 and 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, 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 for documents which are likely to be relevant to your request and the scope is voluminous. We are also unable to search for ‘AASW Advocacy’ or any of the subsections under part 2 of your request.

At a conservative estimate, this would take an FOI officer more than 30 hours to simply search and review the 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:

  • Changing the timeframe of the request to 1 January 2025 to the date of the request.
  • Request correspondence from NDIA to AASW and provide an email address that correspondence to AASW would be sent to.
  • Clarify the topic which would be covered in these emails.
  • Exclude meeting minutes and policy consultation responses.
  • Remove reference to internal documents.
  • Remove sub sections under point 2.

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 8 August 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,

Heather (UFG97) Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division