FFP v Cumberland City Council

Civil and Administrative Tribunal

New South Wales

Case Name:	FFP v Cumberland City Council
Medium Neutral Citation:	[2022] NSWCATAD 194
Hearing Date(s):	23 February 2022
Date of Orders:	15 June 2022
Decision Date:	15 June 2022
Jurisdiction:	Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division
Before:	J D Little, Senior Member
Decision:	The Tribunal has decided not to take any action on the matter.
Catchwords:	Privacy - information protection principle - personal information - disclosure to third party - reasonable security safeguards to prevent disclosure
Legislation Cited:	Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998
Cases Cited:	BXK v Western Sydney University [2016] NSWCATAD 235 CBL v Southern Cross University [2018] NSWCATAP 236 CEU v University of Technology Sydney [2018] NSWCATAD 13 Department of Education and Training v GA (No 3) [2004] NSWADTAP 50 Department of Education and Training v ZR (No 2) [2009] NSWADTAP 44 KO and KP v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (GD) [2005] NSWADTAP 56 OD v Department of Education and Training [2005] NSWADTAP 74;
Texts Cited:	None cited
Category:	Principal judgment
Parties:	FFP (Applicant) Cumberland City Council (Respondent)
Representation:	Self-represented (Applicant) Storey & Gough Lawyers (Respondent)
File Number(s):	2021/00289766
Publication Restriction:	The publication or broadcast of the name of the Applicant is prohibited pursuant to s64(1)(a) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal act 2013. The Applicant is to be known by the pseudonym “FFP”

REASONS FOR DECISION

Background

1. On 30 July 2021 the Applicant sought an internal review by the Respondent under section 53 of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (“PPIP Act”) in relation to the Respondent's conduct which the Applicant alleged breached the Information Protection Principles (“IPP”).

2. On or around 22 September 2021, the Respondent delivered its findings of that Internal Review (“Internal Review”) and determined to take no further action on the matter.

3. On 12 October 2021, the Applicant applied to this Tribunal for an administrative review of the Internal Review pursuant to section 55 of the PPIP Act. That section provides that a person who has made an application for internal review under section 53 and is not satisfied with the findings of the review or the action taken by the agency in relation to the application, may apply under the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 (the “ADR Act”) to the Tribunal for an administrative review of the conduct that was the subject of the application.

The Conduct

1. The conduct the subject of the Applicant’s privacy complaints as were before the Internal Review and are therefore the subject of this administrative review as expressed in the Applicant’s summary dated 30 July 2021 are as follows:

   (1)Complaint One: Allegation that the Respondent breached IPP contained in sections ss 9(a), 10(a), (b), 11(b), 17 and 18 of the PPIP Act by seeking information from the Office of the Children’s Guardian (formerly the NSW Ombudsman) (“OCG”) on 10 and 11 June 2021.

   (2)Complaint Two: Allegation that the Respondent breached IPP contained in ss 11(b)…