BN v Hornsby Shire Council

BN has brought a complaint against Hornsby Shire Council, alleging that the council breached privacy laws by disclosing personal information on its website. The case was heard in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The primary issue for the tribunal to determine was whether the information published by the council constituted personal information under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW). If it did, the tribunal also needed to decide whether the council's disclosure of this information contravened the disclosure information protection principle set out in subsection 18(2) of the Act.

The tribunal found that the information published by the council did indeed constitute personal information, as it was information about an identifiable individual and was not of a kind that would ordinarily be available to the public. The tribunal concluded that the council's disclosure of this information was not in accordance with the information protection principles of the Act, as it was not necessary for the purposes for which the information was collected, and the council did not have a lawful reason to disclose it. The tribunal emphasised that public sector agencies must take care to ensure that any personal information they hold is not disclosed or published without proper authority.

The tribunal ordered the council to provide a written apology to BN for its conduct and to take all necessary steps to ensure that it does not in future disclose or publish personal information about BN that it holds, unless that disclosure or publication is in accordance with the information protection principles of the PPIP Act. The tribunal also noted that there would be no order for costs unless BN filed and served an application for costs, together with supporting submissions and evidence of any legal costs incurred in the prosecution of these proceedings, within 21 days of the date of this decision.