Our reference: FOI 24/25-0013
GPO Box 700 Canberra ACT 2601 1800 800 110 12 August 2024 ndis.gov.au
Brooke Bickley
By email: foi+request-11611-4f2461a8@righttoknow.org.au
Dear Brooke Bickley
Freedom of Information request - Notification of Decision
Thank you for your correspondence of 3 July 2024, 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 notify you of my decision on your application.
Scope of your request You have requested access to the following documents:
“I am requesting Research Documents the Technical Advisory Branch have with the following topics:
- GPS Tracking
- Locating OT assessment resources for TAB/AAT cases
- Government PBS Safety net considerations
- Group based pain management programs
- Neurofeeedback therapy
- Air conditioning
- Air conditioning maintenance costs
- Power subsidy schemes
- Electroconvulsive therapy
- Therapy and sensory items (weighted/autism focused)
- Partners in recovery program
- Self reported functional capacity, perceived disability, and actual functional performance
- Recreational supports: barriers to participation (people with a disability vs people without a disability)
- SDA Vacancies search
- Matrix of entities responsible for authorisation of RRP
- Treatments to remedy Depression and chronic anxiety
- Evidence based treatments for chronic anxiety
- Determining personal care hours for a range of tasks
- Alternative funding options for medications not PBS approved
- Computer based interactive cognitive training
- Cost of meal preparation and delivery
- Adaptive behaviour assessment system
- Therapy best practice
- Dialectical behaviour therapy
- Exposure therapy for PTSD
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- Ratios of direct support
- Restrictive practice - NDIS State based information
- Common home automations
- Long covid
- Gym membership in Australia
- Take away / Eating out habits of Australians
- Efficacy of equine therapy
- Sensory based therapy
- Pet ownership and mental health
- Home modifications and behaviours of concern
- Summary of evidence quality of 6 cooking skills related articles
- Mainstream and community transport options
- Efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation on functional outcomes for people with psychosocial conditions
- Psychometric scoring properties and criteria for ABAS 3rd edition
- Evaluation of CANS, ABAS-3, LSP-16 outcome measures
- Air conditioning and thermoregulation
- Myalgic encephalomyelitis - chronic fatigue syndrome
- Administering medication in Australia”
Extension of time On 1 August 2024, you agreed to a 14-day extension of time under section 15AA of the FOI Act, making 19 August 2024 the new date to provide you with a decision on access.
Search efforts Searches for documents were conducted by the Technical Advisory Branch (TAB) and 37 documents responsive to your application were located. Two documents were also located on the NDIA FOI disclosure log as being previously released; these documents are being provided as part of an administrative release.
I note there are discrepancies in the names of some of them documents requested compared to the documents provided. TAB have confirmed that the documents provided are consistent with your request and I have included both names of the documents, one in brackets, in the schedule of documents at Attachment A.
I also note that TAB have confirmed some of the documents requested are part of a single document, namely, ‘Air conditioning’, ‘Air conditioning maintenance costs’, ‘Matrix of entities responsible for authorisation of RRP’ and ‘Psychometric scoring properties and criteria for ABAS 3rd edition’. Details of which documents they relate to have been provided in the schedule of documents at Attachment A.
Decision on access to documents I have decided to grant full access to 3 documents. I have decided to grant partial access to all 34 documents.
I made this decision as an authorised FOI decision maker under section 23(1) of the FOI Act.
Access to edited copies with exempt or irrelevant material deleted I have identified that Documents 3-5 and 7-37 contain material that is irrelevant to your request. The irrelevant material relates to names and/or contact details of NDIA staff which you have agreed to out of scope from your request, and names and emails of organisations in document 23 ‘Ratios of Supports’. This means that although I have decided to provide full access to the information requested, the removal of the irrelevant information makes the documents a partial release.
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Accordingly, I have prepared an edited copy of the documents with the irrelevant material removed.1
Release of documents The documents for release, as referred to in the Schedule of Documents at Attachment A, are attached.
Rights of review Your rights to seek a review of my decision, or lodge a complaint, are set out at Attachment B.
Should you have any enquiries concerning this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at foi@ndis.gov.au.
Yours sincerely
Patrick Senior Freedom of Information Officer Government, Risk & Legal – Complaints Management and FOI General Counsel Division
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Attachment A
Schedule of Documents for FOI 24/25-0013
| Document number | Page number | Description | Access Decision | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-13 | GPS Enabled Tracking Devices (GPS Tracking) | FULL ACCESS | |
| 2 | 14-16 | Footnotes used in the Source Document: INTERFACE MED LEGAL - ADL Report (Locating OT assessment resources for TAB/AAT cases) | FULL ACCESS | |
| 3 | 17-22 | PBS Safety Net (Government PBS Safety net considerations) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 4 | 23-35 | Group based pain management programs | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 5 | 36-40 | Neurofeedback therapy | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| Air conditioning | Not a separate document, please refer to document 36 provided | |||
| Air conditioning maintenance costs | Not a separate document, please refer to document 36 provided | |||
| 6 | 41-63 | Power subsidy schemes | FULL ACCESS | |
| 7 | 64-73 | Electroconvulsive therapy | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 8 | 74-88 | Sensory products/ weighted items for participants with Autism (Therapy and sensory items (weighted/autism focused)) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 9 | 89-92 | Partners in recovery program | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
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| Document number | Page number | Description | Access Decision | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 93-103 | Impact of funding on self-reported functional capacity and perceived difficulty Vs actual functional performance (Self reported functional capacity, perceived disability, and actual functional performance) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 11 | 104-124 | Recreational supports: barriers to participation (people with a disability vs people without a disability) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 12 | 125-128 | SDA Vacancies search | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| Matrix of entities responsible for authorisation of RRP | Not a separate document, please refer to document 24 provided | |||
| 13 | 129-134 | Depression – Evidence based treatments (Treatments to remedy Depression and chronic anxiety) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 14 | 135-140 | Evidence based treatments for chronic anxiety | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 15 | 141-147 | Determining personal care hours for a range of tasks | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 16 | 148-152 | Alternative funding sources for Rituximab (Alternative funding options for medications not PBS approved) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 17 | 153-165 | Computer based interactive cognitive training for acquired brain injury (Computer based interactive cognitive training) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 18 | 166-173 | Cost of meal preparation and delivery | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 19 | 174-178 | Adaptive behaviour assessment system | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 20 | 179-201 | Therapy best practice | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 21 | 202-212 | Dialectical behaviour therapy | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 22 | 213-219 | Exposure therapy for PTSD | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
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| Document number | Page number | Description | Access Decision | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 220-240 | Ratios of direct support | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 24 | 241-277 | Guide to Restrictive Practice Processes by state and territory (Restrictive practice - NDIS State based information) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 25 | 278-289 | Home automation as an everyday living cost (Common home automations) | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| Long Covid-19 | Previously released under FOI, provided as an administrative release | |||
| 26 | 290-293 | Gym membership in Australia | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 27 | 294-298 | Take away / Eating out habits of Australians | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 28 | 299-307 | Efficacy of equine therapy | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 29 | 308-321 | Sensory based therapy | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 30 | 322-331 | Pet ownership and mental health | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 31 | 332-344 | Home modifications and behaviours of concern | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 32 | 345-349 | Summary of evidence quality of 6 cooking skills related articles | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 33 | 350-369 | Mainstream and community transport options | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 34 | 370-378 | Efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation on functional outcomes for people with psychosocial conditions | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
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| Document number | Page number | Description | Access Decision | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychometric scoring properties and criteria for ABAS 3rd edition | Not a separate document, please refer to document 35 provided | |||
| 35 | 379-390 | Evaluation of CANS, ABAS-3, LSP-16 outcome measures | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| 36 | 391-416 | Air conditioning and thermoregulation | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
| Myalgic encephalomyelitis - chronic fatigue syndrome | Previously released under FOI, provided as an administrative release | |||
| 37 | 417-425 | Administering medication in Australia | PARTIAL ACCESS | Irrelevant material removed under section 22 of the FOI Act |
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Attachment B
Your review rights
Internal Review The FOI Act gives you the right to apply for an internal review of this decision.
If you wish to seek an internal review of the decision, you must apply for the review, in writing, within 30 days of receipt of this letter.
No particular form is required for an application for internal review, but to assist the review process, you should clearly outline your grounds for review (that is, the reasons why you disagree with the decision). Applications for internal review can be lodged by email to foi@ndis.gov.au or sent by post to:
Freedom of Information Section Complaints Management and FOI Branch General Counsel Division National Disability Insurance Agency GPO Box 700 CANBERRA ACT 2601
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 the review, in writing, or by using the online merits review form available on the OAIC’s website at www.oaic.gov.au, within 60 days of receipt of this letter.
Applications for review can be lodged with the OAIC 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 taken by the NDIA in relation to your request. The Ombudsman will consult with the OAIC before investigating a complaint about the handling of an FOI request.
Your complaint to the OAIC can be directed to the contact details identified above. Your complaint to the Ombudsman can be directed to:
- Phone: 1300 362 072 (local call charge)
- Email: ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.au
Your complaint should be in writing and should set out the grounds on which it is considered that the actions taken in relation to the request should be investigated.
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Footnotes
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Section 22 of the FOI Act. ↩