Our reference: FOI 24/25-0748 [LEXD 9786]
GPO Box 700
Canberra ACT 2601
1800 800 110
ndis.gov.au
10 April 2026
Jessica Hargreaves
By email: foi+request-13686-1733ec7c@righttoknow.org.au
Dear Jessica Hargreaves
Freedom of Information request — Request consultation process
Thank you for your correspondence of 21 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).
Scope of your request
You have requested access to the following documents:
“…1. A list or schedule of all external law firms engaged by the NDIA in the 202324 and 202425 financial years to date, including the general scope of services provided (e.g. legal advice, representation, other legal services).
A list of external consultants or advisory firms engaged by the NDIA in the 202324 and 2024-25 financial years to date, with the subject matter of the work performed.
Any procurement records or contract summaries for engagements over $100,000 in value within that same period.
I am not seeking access to the content of legal advice, privileged communications, or invoices. I am only seeking high-level information identifying the firms and the general nature of their engagements. I would prefer to receive the information in electronic form….“
Practical refusal
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
I am writing to advise that your request does not provide enough information about the
documents you are seeking as is reasonably necessary to allow us to identify them. 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
On 31 March 2026, we advised you that your request did not satisfy section 15(2)(b) of the
FOI Act, as the terms of your request were too broad and we were unable to identify the
specific documents sought. We sought further information from you about the documents
you were requesting access to.
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:
- a list of law firms engaged by the NDIA in relation to ART matters, for the financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25
- Any procurement records or contract summaries for engagements over $100,000 in value within that same period.
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 redacted: xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Alternatively, you can reply in writing to the following address:
Freedom of Information Section Information Access and Privacy 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 24 April 2026, I will issue you a formal
decision letter that confirms my reasons for refusing your request.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Yours sincerely
Mykal (MJG094)
Freedom of Information Officer
Information Access and Privacy Branch