BTX v University of Wollongong [2015] NSWCATAD 190

Civil and Administrative Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: BTX v University of Wollongong [2015] NSWCATAD 190 Hearing dates: 9 July 2015 Decision date: 18 September 2015 Jurisdiction: Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division Before: J McAteer Senior Member Decision: (1) The application is dismissed Catchwords: LEAVE to proceed out of time – reasonable time to lodge application – reasonable explanation for delay – leave refused – application dismissed – basis to consider merits as part of explanation for delay. Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Act 1997 Administrative Decisions Review Act 1997 Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 Cases Cited: AT v Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police [2011] NSWADT 214 Makita v Sprowles [2001] NSWCA 305 Turner v Commissioner of Police NSW Police Force [2014] NSWCATAP Habib v State of New South Wales (NSW Police Force) [2014] NSWCATAP 70 Texts Cited: DSM (IV) Category: Principal judgment Parties: BTX (Applicant) University of Wollongong (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: N/A

Solicitors: Sparke Helmore Lawyers (Respondent) File Number(s): 1510170 Publication restriction: Section 64 (1) Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013

Reasons for decision 1. The applicant in these proceedings is referred to as "BTX". BTX is the applicant's pseudonym used in these proceedings. 2. These proceedings arise from a privacy complaint by BTX against the university where he was a student. That complaint was dealt with by the University (respondent), by way of an internal review under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (the PPIP Act). In that review the respondent examined whether the applicant's allegations of breaches of privacy were established. The review findings were that no breaches occurred. As a result the applicant sought administrative review in the Tribunal. 3. For reasons set out below, the Tribunal declines to give leave to proceed out of time. In doing so, it was necessary to hear the application on the merits, mainly for reasons set out in paragraphs 12 and 33 (below). In doing so the Tribunal identified that in respect of disclosure, there was no breach of the Information Privacy Principles (IPP's) under the PPIP Act in respect of the management of BTX's personal information by the University. For that reason and other reasons in the application, leave to proceed out of time was subsequently refused.