Our reference: FOI 24/25-1470 OAIC reference: MR25/00831
GPO Box 700 Canberra ACT 2601 1800 800 110 ndis.gov.au
18 July 2025
Me
By email: foi+request-12890-ca7e8bfd@righttoknow.org.au
Dear Me,
Freedom of Information request — Notice of revised decision under section 55G of the Freedom of Information Act 1982
We received your correspondence of 6 March 2025 in which you requested access to documents held by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
The purpose of this letter is to provide you with a revised decision on your request.
Scope of your initial request
You requested access to the following documents:
“… a copy of all documents that:
- Contain current advice or guidance or similar on the definition of ‘impairment’ (as used in the Act), and
- Are not publicly available, and
- Are not advice et al to a specific individual (for example, an email in response to a question is not included; a reference document in Teams is, even if the reference document is not a formal SOP).
Where a document is in scope the request is for the whole document, not just the portion relating to impairment.
I agree to the exclusion of non-SES details and applicant/participant personal information…”
On 29 March 2025, you revised your scope of your request to the following:
“…I narrow the request to:
- Only relate to ‘impairment’ as used in s 24
- Not include documents already released under 0883 and 0754”
Processing Period
The FOI Act provides 30 calendar days for the processing of an FOI request after it is received. As your valid FOI request was received on 6 March 2025, the original due date for your request was 5 April 2025.
On 31 March 2025, you agreed to a 30-day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act, making the new extended due date 5 May 2025 for us to provide a decision on access.
We had 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 Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), on 5 May 2025.
On 21 May 2025, we were notified that you applied to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for an Information Commissioner (IC) review by the Information Commissioner (IC) of our deemed refusal.
On 24 June 2025, we issued you a revised decision.
Initial Decision
On 24 June 2025, we issued you a revised decision granting access to 7 documents in full and 6 documents on part.
Information Commissioner Review
On 30 June 2025, OAIC notified us of your intention to proceed with the IC review. In your reasons, you stated:
‘…I would like to keep the review on foot in relation to one specific point.
Folio 83 contains s 47E(d) redactions on the basis they reveal methodologies. I contend that is not a valid basis. Refusing to disclose such decision-making criteria is kafkaesque. It also necessarily results in NDIA’s decisions being infected with jurisdictional error for breaching the fair hearing rule.
Further, the methodology for disability support pension is publicly available. It’s not harmful to publish the exact details for assessing DSP. NDIA has given no reason to demonstrate publishing exact details for NDIS is different. Therefore, the redaction should not apply such that NDIS criteria are as transparent as DSP criteria…’
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.
Decision on access to documents
I am authorised to make decisions under section 23(1) of the FOI Act, including revised decisions under s55G of that Act. My revised decision on your request and the reasons for my decision are set out below.
I have reviewed the initial FOI decision, including Document 3, in particular page 2 (identified as ‘Folio 83’), the reasons for the redaction, and consulted with the original decision maker.
I also considered your reasons why you contest the redaction on ‘Folio 83’ and decided to release a revised version of the Document 3 and grant access in part.
In reaching my decision, I took the following into account:
- your correspondence outlining the scope of your request
- the nature and content of the documents falling within the scope of your request
- the FOI Act
- the FOI Guidelines published under section 93A of the FOI Act
- consultation with relevant NDIA staff
- factors relevant to my assessment of whether or not disclosure would be in the public interest
- the NDIA’s operating environment and functions.
Reasons for decision
Certain operations of agencies (section 47E(d))
Section 47E(d) of the FOI Act conditionally exempts a document if its disclosure would, or could reasonably be expected to, have a substantial adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of an agency.
The document contains information relating to certain operations of the NDIA, specifically internal single point of contact (i.e., internal mailbox), intended exclusively for use only by NDIA staff in their work. These internal mailboxes are not public facing. Emails sent by NDIA staff to these specialist mailboxes are effectively directed to subject matter experts within each team, facilitating NDIA’s internal operations.
Disclosing the use of single points of contact may jeopardise their effectiveness in receiving feedback and complaints. I am satisfied that there is a reasonable likelihood of aggrieved members of the public seeking to gain advantage over others by using internal points of contact in place of the appropriate points of contact and that release of this information could reasonably be expected to have an adverse effect on the proper and efficient conduct of the operations of the Agency, namely the Agency’s ability to conduct its operations in a timely and efficient way.
Accordingly, I find that disclosure of this information would or could reasonably be expected to have a substantial adverse effect on the operations of the Agency and is therefore conditionally exempt under section 47E(d) of the FOI Act.
Public interest considerations – section 47E(d)
Section 11A(5) of the FOI Act provides that access to a document covered by a conditional exemption must be provided unless disclosure would be contrary to the public interest.
I have not considered any of the irrelevant factors as set out under section 11B(4) of the FOI Act in making this decision.
In favour of disclosure, I have considered the factors outlined in section 11B(3) of the FOI Act, and I have determined that disclosure of the relevant information in the document would promote the objects of the FOI Act by providing access to documents held by the government.
While there is limited public interest in the disclosure of information conditionally exempt under section 47E(d), of the FOI Act, the harm that would result from disclosure is that it could reasonably be expected to:
- prejudice the ability of the Agency to protect established contact points and procedures of the Agency
In summary, I am satisfied that the factors against disclosure of the information outweigh the factors in favour of disclosure and that, on balance, it would be contrary to the public interest to release this information to you. Accordingly, I have decided that the relevant information in the document is exempt under section 47E(d) of the FOI Act.
Release of documents
The document for release, as referred to in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A, is enclosed.
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.
If you would like clarification on any aspect of my decision, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.
Yours sincerely
Sussan (SJL495) Senior Freedom of Information Officer Information Release, Privacy and Legal Operations Branch Reviews and Information Release Division
Attachment A
Schedule of Documents for FOI 24/25-1470
| Document number | Page number | Description | Access Decision | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-2 | Section 24(1)(a) – OneNote Guidance | PARTIAL ACCESS | Exemption(s) claimed: s47E(d) – certain operations of agencies |
Delivered by the
National Disability Insurance Agency