“What effective controls do the Glen Eira City Council have in place to ensure that the personal information of those asking Public Questions is protected and not disclosed or published in the Ordinary Council Meeting Minutes.”
The Mayor read Council’s response. He said:
“The process for submitting public questions to Council is managed in accordance with the Glen Eira City Council Local Law 2009 together with Guidelines for Public Question Time adopted by Council. Local Law 232 requires that questions bear the questioner’s name, address, date and telephone number.
Public questions submitted to a public forum such as a Council meeting are public in their nature, however, Council has generally followed a practice that only the questioner’s name will be recorded in minutes of Council meetings.
Council’s practice is to include in Council minutes the first initial and surname of the person asking the question together with the actual question. Due to a change in Council personnel Council did not follow the usual practice in its most recent minutes for the public questions on 19 Jul, 2016. However, these minutes have now been revised to delete the full address details of the questioner to comply with past practice.
The Local Government Act 1989 requires the minutes of Council meetings to contain details of the proceedings and resolutions made. Council is of the view that the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 does not preclude the publication of the questioner’s name and address in the Council minutes.”
COMMENT
- Information Privacy Principle (IPP) No.2 states – An organisation must not use or disclose personal information about an individual for a purpose (the secondary purpose) other than the primary purpose of collection…… The individual has consented to the use or disclosure ….
- Disclosing the names, addresses, and emails of those who submitted public questions is NOT THE PRIMARY purpose of the collection of such information. Council’s ‘guidelines’ clearly state that details such as name, address, date and phone nos. are required for ‘verification’. That, and that alone, is the primary purpose.
- Is it really too much to ask (given that this is not the first time this has occurred) that instead of bluff and bluster, council simply proffers a heartfelt and genuine apology?
August 20, 2016 at 11:50 AM
That’s why we’ve got lawyers coming out of our ears and paying them a fortune. They are there to muddy the waters and put off people who might not know what the law says.
August 20, 2016 at 12:25 PM
This is a case of “Parrot Pilling” reading out his lines
August 20, 2016 at 1:28 PM
On the subject of lawyers – Why is the community and the newspaper not questioing the CEO to release the QC’s report that has costed us $44K plus (much more) is kept under lock and key.
Andrews government while trying their best to control the rates and wastage of money in the council, it is ironic that no one is probing the abuse of rate payers money.
The residents are extremely disappointed that none of the three MP’s in Glen Eira have taken this issue and reported the abuse to the parliament.
If the residential zones were important at the time of election, so should this gross negligence and deliberate wastage treated the same way and the effectiveness would be immediate. Any views on this?
August 20, 2016 at 6:55 PM
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/caulfield-racecourse-trustees-face-sack-in-community-push-for-more-open-space-20160820-gqx9tq.html
August 20, 2016 at 7:32 PM
so what are you predicting happens. how can they cover this up so MRC can continue to control the land?
August 21, 2016 at 9:12 AM
If DELWP is going to run the show we will have the same debacle.
August 20, 2016 at 6:58 PM
Council claims it is aware of its obligations under PDPA and IPP according to its website, but its response suggests otherwise. Maybe Council should come clean about what the primary purpose of the information it collects is, whether its validation as claimed, or something more sinister. The Privacy Commissioner should be able to advise whether Council breached the Act or Privacy Principles. Council is asserting it has the right to publish all that information it is collecting if it feels like it.
http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Council/Legislation-and-governance/Privacy
There is also an issue around a “change of Council personnel” as the reason for the breach. That suggests they don’t have quality procedures covering preparation of the Minutes. The short answer to the Public Question is that Council doesn’t have in place “effective controls”.
August 21, 2016 at 1:30 PM
http://delwp.vic.gov.au/parks-forests-and-crown-land/report-on-future-management-of-caulfield-racecourse-reserve