Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee

Report on an Interim Privacy Code of Conduct for Members of the Victorian Parliament, May 2001

Chair's Introduction

The Committee is pleased to present its report and recommendation for an interim privacy code for Members of the Victorian Parliament.

The Committee received the reference on 26 September 2000 from the Minister for State and Regional Development, the Hon. John Brumby MP. The reference is made by Order of Governor in Council pursuant to section 4F of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1968. The Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee was requested to report and make recommendations to the Parliament on part 2 of the reference concerning an interim privacy code of conduct by 31 May 2001. The Committee is expected to make a final report and recommendations to the Parliament on part 1 of the reference by 31 December 2001.

To assist with the conduct of the inquiry the Committee established the Information Privacy Subcommittee in October 2000 comprising, Mr Carlo Carli MP (Chair), the Hon. Maree Luckins MLC, Mrs Liz Beattie MP and Mr Martin Dixon MP.

In preparing this report and recommendation on an interim code the Committee engaged a specialist consultant Mr Nigel Waters of Pacific Privacy Pty. Ltd to advise on legal and technical issues. Mr Waters previously held the office of Deputy Federal Privacy Commissioner and is considered to be an eminent authority on privacy issues in Australia. The Committee thanks Mr Waters for his valuable contribution to the development of an interim privacy code.

The Information Privacy Act 2000 exempts Members of Parliament from its ambit. The Committee hopes that this report and recommendation for an interim privacy code will foster debate amongst Members and others on ethical practices and conduct in respect to information collection, disclosure, storage, security and access by Members of the Victorian Parliament.

The Committee expresses its thanks to the Senior Legal Adviser, Andrew Homer who acts as our adviser and Simon Dinsbergs, Assistant Executive Officer who acts as our secretary.

Carlo Carli MP
Chair
Information Privacy Subcommittee