Other Information
FOI Solutions Training Sessions
The upcoming training sessions for June/July are as follows:
- Intermediate 1: Tuesday, 16 June
- Intermediate 2: Thursday, 18 June
- Section 35 Exemption: Tuesday, 30 June
- Section 30 Public Interest: Tuesday, 7 July
- Basic 1: Tuesday, 21 July
- Basic 2: Thursday, 23 July
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: In the event of a privacy incident, what should my organisation do to minimise the impacts?
A: The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (“OVIC”) and the Public Records Office of Victoria (“PROV”) have published minimum expectations for minimising the privacy impacts of an incident.
Under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) (“PDP Act”) the Information Privacy Principles (“IPPs”) set out numerous principles in which your organisation should follow. We recommend considering the expectations set out by the OVIC and PROV alongside the IPPs when planning how to minimise the potential impacts of a privacy incident before one occurs.
Consider, for instance, how much personal information is absolutely necessary to your organisations functions and whether there is any possibility to reduce the amount of personal information collected. It is also worthwhile considering building protections into third-party arrangements, a good case example of this of this was the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (“OAIC”) investigation into I-MED Radiology Limited. The OAIC found that I-MED had placed contractual obligations on a third party AI system, which imposed multiple prohibitions on handling patient data in a way that could breach the Australian Privacy Principles.
We recommend organisations revisiting their privacy obligations under the PDP Act to identify further steps you could take to minimise the impact of potential privacy incidents. If you would like assistance in reviewing your organisations privacy policies and practices, please do not hesitate to contact us for experienced advice on these matters.
Q: What if an applicant requests information that is publicly available?
A: Section 7 of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (“FOI Act”) encourages the voluntary or informal release of information where it is practicable for an agency to do so in the interest of maintaining transparency and promoting access to information. This means that an agency can actively provide the public with information. However, where information has been released publicly in a document, then they may not be able to obtain access to it under the FOI Act. Section 14(1) of the FOI Act sets out the circumstances where an individual is not entitled to obtain access to a document through the FOI Act, including where the document containing the information that is open to the public, on a website, available for purchase or inspection, or stored for preservation at the Public Records Office of Victoria.
If s 14(1) applies to a requested document, an agency must explain that the document is already available for public access or inspection and advise the FOI applicant how they may access the document they are seeking. This could include by directing them to the relevant agency or website where the document is available to obtain or apply for access.