NSW Government Bulletin - 26 August 2015

In a recent decision of the NCAT Appeal Panel, Pearce v AQO [2015] NSWCATAP 162, the Appeal Panel had regard to key principles of statutory interpretation in deciding that a Minister did not fall within the definition of a 'public sector agency', for the purposes of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act).

In April 2012, the appellant, in his capacity as Minister for Finance and Services, issued a media release publicising the release of an issues paper and announcing the establishment of a parliamentary committee to inquire into reform of the workers compensation system.

The media release ended with two de-identified 'case studies' that were said to illustrate excessive benefit outcomes. A problem arose, however, when an individual (the respondent) recognised the details given in one of the case studies as his own and concluded that they must have been provided to the