Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 s 148
Quick Take
1Where a government department holds a prisoner's health information on its own electronic records system, an internal employee accessing that information for the purpose of preparing a witness statement in legal proceedings does not constitute a fresh 'collection' by the department for the purposes of Health Privacy Principle 1.1 in Schedule 1 to the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic), even if a subcontractor's employee facilitated the access, because the information was already held by the department.
2Health Privacy Principles 2.2(c) and 2.2(k) permit a department to use and disclose a prisoner's health information — including potentially the entirety of their medical records — where the prisoner has brought broad discrimination and health care claims against the department, and such use is necessary or reasonably necessary for the defence of those claims; the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) does not require the department to first seek consent or a court order before relying on these exceptions.
3A contention raised for the first time on appeal from VCAT that could have been met by additional evidence below (here, that information was obtained from an external subcontractor rather than from within the department) is impermissible under established principles governing s 148 VCAT Act appeals.
