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Privacy management policy

Introduction

  • The Victorian Government has introduced the Information Privacy Act 2000. The Act commenced on 1 September 2001 and most of the controls in the Act will commence on 1 September 2002.
  • The main purposes of the Information Privacy Act as applied to VLA are: 
    • to establish a regime for the responsible collection and handling of personal information by VLA
    • to give individuals rights of access to information about them held by VLA and third parties providing services to VLA
    • to give individuals the right to require VLA to correct information about them held by VLA, including information held by third party service providers
    • to provide remedies for interferences with an individual’s information privacy
    • to establish a Privacy Commissioner.

Collection of Personal Information and primary purpose of collection

  • VLA collects a wide range of personal information for different purposes.
  • As part of the Commonwealth Government / VLA funding agreement, VLA is required to collect personal information about people who receive legal aid. The information relates to the following matters:
    • gender, country of birth, language, age, postcode
    • whether the person is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin
    • the type, if any, of Commonwealth benefit received
    • gross weekly income, and
    • the matter for which legal aid was sought.
  • Section 23 of the Legal Aid Act requires an application for legal assistance  to be made in writing.  VLA requires the personal information in an application for legal assistance to:
    • assess the applicant’s eligibility for legal assistance
    • verify the applicant’s Commonwealth benefit entitlement with Centrelink
    • assist the applicant’s lawyer in providing legal services
    • ensure compliance with legal professional ethics and the Legal Practice Act.
  • Financial information about an applicant for legal assistance, and any financially associated persons,  is collected to:
    • assess the applicant’s eligibility for legal assistance
    • assess the applicant’s ability to contribute towards the cost of providing legal assistance
    • assist in recovering costs owed to VLA.
  • VLA requires personal information from all other recipients of legal aid (that is, people who receive legal advice or duty lawyer services) in order to provide those recipients with adequate legal advice, legal representation and to ensure compliance with legal professional ethics.
  • VLA may also provide some authorised research agencies with client information strictly for the purpose of undertaking research on our behalf. In these instances, we would only provide the minimum information required to conduct the research and ensure that client confidentiality is maintained and that your client data is protected and secure.
  • Personal information about employees is collected to assist VLA with:
    • the financial and organisational management of VLA
    • employee emergency contacts
    • payroll
    • Australian Taxation Office requirements
    • screening of new employees
    • reporting to the Office of Public Employment.
  • VLA collects performance management plans and performance reviews to assist VLA to structure suitable training for employees and to provide employees with feedback on their performance.
  • VLA collects electronic staff records to:
    • allow VLA to analyse the level and type of Internet and phone usage by VLA employees
    • store VLA’s internal and external electronic communications, and
    • store VLA employee electronic files.
  • VLA collects information from CLC employees in order to comply with the CLC Service Agreement.
  • Complaints, from inside and outside VLA, are collected by VLA to:
    • investigate possible breaches of the Legal Aid Act by legal practitioners and persons receiving legal aid,
    • investigate and resolve complaints.
  • The collection of complaints about a CLC is incidental to VLA’s function of monitoring CLC performance and accountability.
  • Personal information about complainants is used only for the investigation of the complaint.
  • All requests made to VLA under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 are collected by VLA to:
    • allow identification of the documents requested
    • keep records of the requests received and documents released, and
    • provide the Department of Justice with details of requests made to VLA.

Disclosure of Personal Information

  • VLA is generally prohibited from revealing any information about an applicant for legal assistance;  but may reveal information to a third party where:
    • VLA replies to an application under section 197of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009
    • a court requires information for the efficient listing of cases
    • VLA lists a person with a credit reporting agency when the person is more than 60 days overdue in making a financial contribution to VLA
    • disclosure will assist VLA to recover legal costs, or
    • disclosure is necessary in the public interest.

Retention of Personal Information

  • VLA retains all personal information in accordance with the Public Records Disposal Schedule.

Access and amendment to Personal Information

  • Where VLA holds personal information about a person, the person can gain access to and seek amendment of that information by:
    • telephoning the Privacy Officer at VLA’s Melbourne Office on (03) 9269 0234, or
    • writing to the Privacy Officer, 350 Queen Street, Melbourne Vic 3000.

Important notes

  • Legal aid includes legal advice, legal representation in court by a duty lawyer and more extensive forms of legal representation: see section 2 of the Legal Aid Act 1978.
  • Legal assistance refers to legal services other than duty lawyer services and legal advice.
  • The term 'Financially Associated Person' (FAP) is defined as:
    • any person who usually provides the person applying for a grant of legal assistance with financial support, or 
    • any person who could reasonably be expected to financially assist the person applying for a grant of leagl assistance.
  • For the purposes of this policy, ‘public interest’ means the circumstances and interests articulated in Information Privacy Principle 2.1(d), (e), (f), and (g) of the Information Privacy Act 2000.