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Other Information

FOI Solutions Training Sessions

The upcoming training sessions for June/July are as follows:

  • 1 July 2025 - Basic 1 FOI Training 
  • 3 July 2025 - Basic 2 FOI Training
  • 8 July 2025 - Intermediate 1 FOI Training
  • 10 July 2025 - Intermediate 2 FOI Training

For more information or to register, please view our website or send an email to marketing@foisolutions.com.au requesting a copy of the brochure/registration form. 

Question Time

Q: Can my workplace use personal information for some reason other than what it was collected for?

A:   Organisations may want to use personal information for a purpose other than the reason for which it was collected. This leads to the question of whether personal information can be used for a secondary purpose other than the primary purpose it was collected? 

 

Under IPP 2.1(b) of the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) an individual may consent to the disclosure of their personal information.  However, if an individual has not consented, an organisation may still disclose the personal information if the secondary purpose relates to the primary purpose and the individual would reasonably expect the organisation to use or disclose the information for a secondary purpose.  This was recently considered in Stratchan v La Trobe City Council, where the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal considered whether the Council had disclosed Mr Stratchan’s personal information.  The Tribunal considered that the personal information was collected as Mr Stratchan was a ratepayer.  The Council had disclosed the personal information to adjacent land owners, for the purpose of objecting to a planning permit.  The Tribunal held that the secondary purpose related to the primary purpose of collection.  Additionally, the process was set out by legislation and it was reasonable to expect the disclosure as the Council’s privacy policy explained that it may disclose personal information for this type of lawful secondary purpose.  While this decision appears to accord with common sense, we recommend using caution in decision making when considering issues similar to these. 

 

Q: Are Teams chats documents under the FOI Act?

A:  In our view, where the messaging chats are recorded, the outcome is likely to be a “document” as defined in section 5 of the FOI Act.  This is because the definition of “document” is very broad.  At least one recent Supreme Court case has confirmed the breadth of what “document” covers in the current technological world.  With this knowledge, the remaining question is whether the terms of the FOI request are such as to capture those Teams chats.