Greg Twyford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Tim Churches wrote: > > > I am not sure about other States and Territories but that is not true > in > > NSW. The NSW Health Records Information Privacy Act 2002 (see > > > http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/privacynsw/ll_pnsw.nsf/pages/PNSW_0 > 3_hripact > > ) provides for penalties up to 2 years in gaol for public sector > > employees who unlawfully disclose personal health information (or who > > through negligence or omission allow that to happen). > > Yes, that's fine for Health Dept. staff,and I assume the definition of > public sector covers AHS staff?
Yes, definitely. > > Complaints against public sector agencies can be lodged directly with > > the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, after first raising them with the > > agency concerned - they do not need to go through the NSW Privacy > > Commissioner. > > That's probably just as well, as when I rang the NSW Privacy > Commissioner I got an answering machine with a message that suggested > they were only interested in public sector matters. Getting an answering > machine mid-morning suggested to me that they condcuted their business > with very limited staffing, so my expectation of action from them was > greatly diminished. > > > > It is not perfect, and not as strong as it some would like, but better > > than nothing. > > I'm not sure that it is better than nothing outside the public sector > arena. Do they issue an annual report outlining how many cases they've > acted in, the results they've achieved, their recommendations for > improving the law, their recommendations for procedures to ensure > adherence in a range of circumstances, etc.? These are the sorts of > things consumer watchdog organisations routinely do, and so should > government privacy bodies. Well, the HRIP Act at least provides a legislative mechanism for consumers and others to use to have privacy issues investigated. If the investigation is not satisfactory or doesn't happen, then raise the issue with your local member, write letters tot the paper, write blog entries etc. As I said, it is a start, and better than nothing. If everyone is too apathetic to make use of these legislated mechanisms, well, there's not much hope then. Democrarcy is about pushing governments to do things, not just whinging a bit if they haven't already provided a service or facility exactly to your liking. Complaining (politely, sensibly)does have an effect if you are persistent and intelligent in the way you go about it. However, prefacing your complaint with "All bureaucrats are idiots" (or some other standard GP dealing-with-bureaucracy turn-of-phrase) will probably result in a sub-optimal response. > Interesting to know if Victoria has a similar legal framework covering > their public hospitals, as it doesn't seem to have been referenced, > though I've assumed the Austin message was referring the the federal > Commissioner, but it may have been the state equivalent in Victoria. No idea, I'm afraid. But http://www.austlii.edu.au is a great resource for looking for relevant legislation and regulations in any or all jurisdictions in the Monarchy of Oz. Tim C _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
