PRIVACY ROUNDTABLE MEETING
Date: 17 February 2022
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM AEST
Location: Videoconference
Participants
Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner
- Annan Boag – Assistant Commissioner, Privacy and Assurance
- Dermot Dignam – Manager, Privacy Guidance and Dispute Resolution
- Piotr Debowski – Senior Privacy Adviser and Conciliator
- Adriana Nugent –Assistant Commissioner, Policy
Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions
Department of Transport
Department of Education
Department of Energy, Land, Water and Planning (apology)
Department of Health
Department of Families, Fairness and Housing
Department of Justice and Community Safety
Victoria Police
WorkSafe Victoria
Agenda items
1. Welcome and introduction
- The Assistant Commissioner, Privacy and Assurance, welcomed the members of the Privacy Roundtable and performed the acknowledgment of country.
- The Assistant Commissioner, Privacy and Assurance, noted that OVIC will be contacting representatives shortly for feedback to help inform OVIC how future meetings of the PRT are held.
2. OVIC Update
The Assistant Commissioner, Privacy and Assurance:
- Thanked representatives who had participated in OVIC’s recent stakeholder engagement survey and discussed the results.
- Noted several new resources, including:
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- Updated guidance on Privacy by Design, replacing the previous guidance that was issued by the Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection. The new guidance being shorter and suitable for sharing with people who are not privacy specialists.
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- Guidance on the Gender Equality Act 2000 and privacy which outlines the interaction between Victoria privacy law and the obligation that organisations have to develop a Gender Equality Action Plan and conduct workplace gender audits.
- Updated representatives on OVIC’s regulatory action priorities and regulatory action to date.
- Updated representatives on OVIC’s privacy complaint statistics, noting:
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- The timeliness of complains has been improved, with the average of time it takes for a complaint to be finalised reducing from 147 days in FY21 to 117 FY22.
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- That less than 25% of received complaints escalate to VCAT, this being a significant improvement since 2019 where about half of all complaints were escalated.
- Updates representatives on upcoming events being hosted by OVIC, including OVIC’s Regional Roadshow and plans for Privacy Awareness Week.
3. Updates on recent privacy cases
The Senior Privacy Adviser and Conciliator provided a presentation to representatives on two recent VCAT decisions: WOS v Victoria Police [2021] VCAT 1540 and Huang v Frankston City Council VCAT [2022] 24.
4. Consultation on OVIC’s Privacy Complaints Guidance Project
The Manager, Privacy Guidance and Dispute resolution updated representatives on the team’s project to improve guidance associated with its privacy complaints work and sought feedback from representatives.
5. Agency Representative Updates
Representatives discussed key challenges, trends and initiatives in their relevant areas.