JD v Director General, NSW Department of Health

JD brought an action against the Director General of the NSW Department of Health in relation to the disclosure of personal information that the Department held about the plaintiff. The plaintiff argued that the Department had contravened the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) by disclosing the information to a third party. The case was heard by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which was required to determine whether the Department had breached the Act.

The central issue before the Tribunal was whether the Department had contravened section 16 of the Act by using the plaintiff's personal information without taking reasonable steps to ensure that the information was relevant, accurate, up to date, complete and not misleading. The Tribunal had to consider whether the Department had complied with the information protection principle outlined in section 16 of the Act, which requires that personal information be used in a way that is appropriate to the purpose for which it was collected.

The Tribunal found that the Department had contravened section 16 of the Act. The Tribunal noted that the Department had disclosed the plaintiff's personal information to a third party without taking reasonable steps to ensure that the information was accurate, up to date, complete and not misleading. The Tribunal held that the Department had not taken any steps to verify the accuracy of the information before disclosing it to the third party, and that this was a breach of the information protection principle. The Tribunal ordered that the Department had contravened section 16 of the Act and listed the matter for further directions.

The Tribunal made an order that the Department had contravened section 16 of the Act by using the plaintiff's personal information without taking reasonable steps to ensure that the information was relevant, accurate, up to date, complete and not misleading. The Tribunal listed the matter for further directions at 9.15 am on 1 February 2007.