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Labor’s FoI proposals put privacy at risk

Labor’s plans to abolish recent changes to the FoI Act would put at risk the names and addresses of thousands of public servants, Attorney-General Jan Wade said.

Mrs Wade said the changes to the FoI Act passed by Parliament earlier this year were a direct response to a tribunal ruling releasing a hospital roster showing the names of nursing staff on duty on a particular night.

"This was contrary to previous Victorian caselaw which had held that a person’s name or other identifying details was personal information and so render a document containing that information exempt," Mrs Wade said.

She said the amended FoI Act did not impede the public’s right to obtain information about Government decisions; it merely gave third parties involved in decisions an opportunity to have their personal details exempted or, if they had no objection, released.

(News Release, Office of the Attorney-General, 3 September 1999)