DQF v Legal Aid Commission

[2020] NSWCATAD 300

Civil and Administrative Tribunal

New South Wales

• Amendment notes

Medium Neutral Citation:

DQF v Legal Aid Commission [2020] NSWCATAD 300

Hearing dates:

30 October 2020

Date of orders:

8 December 2020

Decision date:

08 December 2020

Jurisdiction:

Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division

Before:

C Ludlow, Senior Member

Decision:

(1) The applicant's request made today for adjournment of today's hearing is refused.

(2) The publication of the medical information in Annexures 2 and 3 to the application of DQF dated 2 October 2020 and provided to the Tribunal at the hearing today to any person other than the respondent is prohibited pursuant to s 64(1)(c) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act.

Catchwords:

PROCEDURAL RULINGS – adjournment

PROCEDURAL RULINGS – disclosure of information

Legislation Cited:

Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW)

Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW)

Cases Cited:

None cited

Texts Cited:

None cited

Category:

Procedural and other rulings

Parties:

DQF (Applicant)
Legal Aid Commission of NSW (Respondent)

Representation:

Solicitors:
Applicant (Self Represented)
Crown Solicitor (Respondent)

File Number(s):

2020/00043408

Publication restriction:

The publication of the medical information in Annexures 2 and 3 to the application of DQF dated 2 October 2020 and provided to the Tribunal at the hearing to any person other than the respondent is prohibited pursuant to s 64(1)(c) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013.

REASONS FOR DECISION

Issues for decision

1. These proceedings concern a complaint by the applicant under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

2. The matter was listed before the Tribunal on 30 October 2020 ostensibly for dealing with the respondent’s dismissal application. Subsequently there was some correspondence regarding the adjournment of that hearing. I dealt with the matter on the basis that directions were required so that the dismissal application could be heard and determined. I made certain directions and orders at the conclusion of that hearing.

3. By email dated 2 November 2020 the applicant has sought an explanation for Orders 3 and 4 which were:

1. The applicant's request made today for adjournment of today's hearing is refused.

2. The publication of the medical information in Annexures 2 and 3 to the application of DQF dated 2 October 2020 and provided to the Tribunal at the hearing today to any person other than the respondent is prohibited pursuant to s 64(1)(c) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act..

   4. I have treated this request as a request for written reasons.

Refusal of the adjournment

5. The applicant submitted that he needed further time to deal with material provided under summons and to recover from his medical condition. He said he had been misdiagnosed. He also said he was homeless. It was not clear what effect if any his medical condition had on him as he said he was still having tests.

6. [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

7. The applicant opposed the adjournment.

8. The matter had been adjourned at least once previously. This was merely a directions hearing and not a hearing where substantive rights could be affected. I was not persuaded that the directions hearing should be further delayed when both parties were present and there was an opportunity to make directions for the future conduct of the matter. This is consistent with the guiding principle in s 36(1) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 that of facilitating the just, quick and cheap resolution of the real issues in the proceedings.

Disclosure of material

9. DQF sought to withhold certain material on which he relied in his adjournment application and in the proceedings generally from the applicant. He said this was because the respondent had previously disclosed information contrary to the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act.

10. Withholding information on which a party relies from another party in proceedings is inconsistent with the principle of procedural fairness, which requires that a party should be able to see the material to which s/he is required to respond.

11. The Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act does not apply to proceedings in the Tribunal – see s. 6 of the Act.

12. I noted that an order had been made by another Member preventing disclosure to the respondent of related material but that decision was made on the papers. I considered that the respondent would be prejudiced if it could not see the relevant material. Additionally, it was apparent that DQF had disclosed some of the material to the respondent’s legal representative previously. I therefore made an order prohibiting the publication of the medical information in Annexures 2 and 3 to the application of DQF dated 2 October 2020 and provided to the Tribunal at the hearing to any person other than the respondent pursuant to s 64(1)(c) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act. Material in these reasons subject to that or other similar orders is marked “Not for publication”.

Orders

1. The applicant's request made today for adjournment of today's hearing is refused.

2. The publication of the medical information in Annexures 2 and 3 to the application of DQF dated 2 October 2020 and provided to the Tribunal at the hearing today to any person other than the respondent is prohibited pursuant to s 64(1)(c) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act.

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I hereby certify that this is a true and accurate record of the reasons for decision of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales.

Registrar

Amendments

08 December 2020 - Typographical error

Decision last updated: 08 December 2020