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…
GIPA Act and Privileged Legal Advice
21 Jul, 2021
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently discussed the risk of waiving privilege where the substance of legal advice is inadvertently disclosed. The proceedings arose out of an application for information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). The…
The NSW Civil and Administrative Review Tribunal recently found an application made for information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) to be invalid because the application did not include sufficient information for the agency to identify the…
On 7 May 2021, the State Government released for public consultation a draft of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Amendment Bill 2021 (‘Draft Bill‘), which proposes to amend the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (‘PPIP Act‘) namely…
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 is generally assumed to have been designed to open up government information to the public. Nevertheless, the Act identifies broad categories of ‘excluded information‘ of certain agencies which are subject to a conclusive presumption…
Busting the myth: is information released under the GIPA Act really released ‘to the world’?
15 Aug, 2020
The release of information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) is commonly referred to as being a release to the world at large. However, this view erroneously conflates the requirement in the GIPA Act for the…
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has again dealt with a dispute concerning public access to copyright material under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). While the facts of this case are similar to those of a case…
For the first time since 2016, the Civil and Administrative Tribunal has restrained an individual from making applications for access to information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act).
Proposed Law Regarding Invasions of Privacy
15 Mar, 2020
On 27 February 2020, the Civil Remedies for Serious Invasions of Privacy Bill 2020 (Bill) was introduced to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. The Bill proposes to create a statutory cause of action for the serious invasion of a…