Director General, Department of Education and Training v MT

The Director-General of the Department of Education and Training (the appellant) appealed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales against decisions of the Appeal Panel of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal. The dispute concerned the application of the *Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998* (NSW) to the actions of an employee of the Department.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the appellant was responsible for the use or disclosure of personal information by an employee when that employee was acting for a purpose extraneous to any purpose of the Department, and the application of rules of attribution in company law to such circumstances.

The Court considered the scope of the Information Protection Principles under the *Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998* (NSW), particularly in relation to the responsibility of a public agency for the actions of its employees. The Court reasoned that if an employee acts for a purpose entirely outside the scope of their employment and the agency's functions, the agency may not be held vicariously liable for breaches of privacy principles. The Court applied principles of attribution, drawing parallels with company law, to determine when an employee's actions could be attributed to the employer.

Leave to appeal was granted, and the appeal was allowed with costs. The orders of the Appeal Panel of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal made on 23 December 2005 were set aside. In their place, Appeal No 049045 was dismissed, Appeal No 049040 was allowed, and an order of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal dated 3 September 2004 was varied by deleting specific provisions.