By nature of their operations, public sector agencies and organisations possess personal information provided by their employees and the general public they serve. While much community focus has been placed on protecting data stored digitally, agencies must ensure compliance with…
REMINDER: Requirements of the Mandatory Data Breach Notification Scheme for Public Sector Agencies
17 Oct, 2024
The Mandatory Notification of Data Breach Scheme (MNDB Scheme) is a mandatory notification requirement under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) for NSW public sector agencies, including all NSW agencies and departments, statutory authorities, local councils,…
REMINDER: Changes to Defamation Law Have Commenced
22 Jul, 2024
At the end of last year, we wrote about changes to NSW defamation laws that introduced new exemptions and defences for potentially defamatory content posted online. Our article discusses these changes in detail: Changes to Defamation Law: New Exemptions and…
New Information and Privacy Commission Guidelines for the Disclosure of Interest Returns
23 Nov, 2023
The Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) has recently published a report (the report) on the outcome of its follow-up audit on councils, to determine their compliance with the requirement to publish returns of interest lodged by councillors and designated persons…
In a world where anyone can post content online, including anonymously, the traditional understanding of a ‘publisher’ for the purposes of defamation law has been a vexed issue. Several High Court decisions in recent years have tried to define who…
In a recent decision of Stalvies v Snowy Monaro Regional Council [2023] NSWCATAD 166 (‘Stalvies case‘), the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal has given detailed consideration to when expressions of opinion, or purported statements of fact, may be found to…
The tort of nuisance provides common law protections for owners and users of land against substantial and unreasonable interference by others with their use and enjoyment of the land. This usually includes things like preventing neighbours from creating loud noises,…
Privacy Bill Passed to Introduce Mandatory Data Breach Notification Scheme for Public Sector Agencies
28 Nov, 2022
On 16 November 2022, the NSW Parliament passed the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill 2022 (‘Bill‘). The Bill is awaiting assent and will come into effect on the first anniversary of the date of assent. Amendments to the…
The objective of the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (Act) is generally to maintain and advance a system of responsible government that is open and accountable and facilitates access to government information to the public. Although the Act provides…
On 8 September 2021, the High Court of Australia held that under defamation law media companies are ‘publishers’ of comments made by members of the public on their Facebook posts and are responsible for the moderation of comments on the…
The Defamation Amendment Act 2020 (Amending Act) commenced operation on 1 July 2021. It represents the first stage of proposed reforms to defamation law. The Amending Act significantly reformed the Defamation Act 2005 (Defamation Act). But how are these changes relevant to…
On 23 July 2021, the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth) (‘OS Act‘) received Royal Assent from the Governor-General. The OS Act will commence a day to be fixed by Proclamation or the day after the end of the period of 6…