UH v Department of Justice & Attorney General [2011] NSWADT 49

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: UH v Department of Justice & Attorney General [2011] NSWADT 49 Hearing dates: On the papers Decision date: 10 March 2011 Jurisdiction: General Division Before: S Montgomery, Judicial Member Decision: The Tribunal determines to take no further action in this matter. Catchwords: Privacy - information protection principle - personal information Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 Cases Cited: JD v Department of Health (GD) [2005] NSWADTAP 44 KO and KP v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police (GD) [2005] NSWADTAP 56 NZ v Department of Housing [2005] NSWADT 234 PT v NSW Medical Board [2010] NSWADT 107 Category: Principal judgment Parties: UH (Applicant) Department of Justice & Attorney General Privacy Commissioner (Respondent) Representation: UH (Applicant in person) G Wallace (Respondent) J McAteer (Privacy Commissioner) File Number(s): 103155 Publication restriction: Section 75(2)(b) of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 applies in relation to the identity of the applicant.

reasons for decision 1In these reasons the names of private individuals have been anonymised so as to preserve the privacy of their personal affairs. The applicant is referred to as UH. 2This matter concerns an application by UH for review of conduct by the Respondent, which he asserts amounts to a contravention of the Information Protection Principles ("IPPs") under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 ("the PPIP Act'). 3On 13 July 2009 UH sent a letter ("the 13 July 2009 letter") addressed to the Registrar, Katoomba Local Court via Express Post. UH asserts that he subsequently contacted the staff at the Katoomba Court House ("the Court House") and requested that the 13 July 2009 letter not be opened. It seems that he attended the House to collect it but at that stage it had not been delivered. 4UH advised staff at the Court House that he wished the envelope to be returned to him. The Registry were unable to locate the 13 July 2009 letter until 15 July 2009 when the contents of the envelope were returned to UH, the letter having been opened. UH asked for the envelope to be returned. The envelope was subsequently located in a 'recycling bin' and returned to UH under letter dated 29 July 2009. 5UH made a complaint to the Attorney General about the incident and related service issues. 6A completed application form titled 'Privacy Complaint: Internal Review Application Form' was forwarded from Privacy NSW to the Respondent's Legal Services Branch by letter dated 15 April 2010 ("the 15 April 2010 complaint"). UH complained that his personal information had been collected, stored and used in breach of the PPIP Act. 7An Internal Review was conducted by Lida Kaban, Director, Legal Services Branch, as provided for by section 53(4) of the PPIP Act. The internal review concluded that the issues raised by UH do not constitute a breach of the PPIP Act. Accordingly, no further action was recommended.