LEX 71821 Disclosure Log LEX 42717 Document for Release Final.pdf

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GUIDELINES FOR THE RELEASE OF INFORMATION WHERE
NECESSARY IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
2003
Approved by Jane Halton, Secretary
Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing,
on 11 June 2003
Reference File: 2002/080488
Folio: 120
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PART 3
GENERAL GUIDELINES
1.
Introduction
1.1 The power under the Health Insurance Act and the National Health Act, to
disclose information with respect to the affairs of a third person where
necessary in the public interest, and the power in the Aged Care Act to disclose
protected information where necessary in the public interest, should generally
not be used where that information can be disclosed under a power contained in
a more specific provision of those Acts.
1.2 It should be noted that what can be done with the information disclosed under
the public interest provisions is generally more limited than what can be done
with the information disclosed in the performance of duties, or in the exercise of
powers or functions under the relevant Act. An authority or person to whom
information is divulged under the public interest provisions in the Health
Insurance Act, the National Health Act and paragraph 28(5)(a) of the Disability
Services Act, will be subject to the same obligations and liabilities under
subsections 130(1) and (2), 135A(1) and 28(2) of those Acts, respectively, as if
the authority or the person were a person performing duties under the relevant
Act and had acquired the information in the performance of those duties. Under
the Aged Care Act, the purpose for which a person makes a record of, discloses
or otherwise uses the information must be the purpose for which the information
was disclosed under the public interest provisions. Release of information in the
performance of a person’s duties, or in the exercise of powers or functions
under the relevant Act, however, has no such restrictions.
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General Principles
4.1  In all cases the delegate must consider whether the disclosure of the information
is “necessary”, and not merely convenient or helpful.
4.2  In considering whether the release of information is “necessary”, the delegate
should take into account:
(a) whether the information is available from some other source outside the
Department of Health and Ageing (‘the Department’) or the
Health Insurance Commission (‘the HIC’). Where there is an alternative
source of information, the delegate could direct the person to that source
and/or invite the person seeking the information to make submissions as to
why the disclosure of information from a Departmental or HIC source is
“necessary” rather than desirable or convenient;
(b) the extent to which the disclosure of information will benefit the public (or a
substantial proportion of the public) as distinct from any private interests of
the person seeking the information; or
(c) whether it could be argued that non-disclosure would be obstructing the
administration of justice.
4.3  Australian courts have identified a number of grounds as being of sufficient
gravity to warrant disclosure in the public interest:
(a) relating to a breach of national security;
(b) relating to major crime;
(c) where failure to disclose the information would obstruct the administration
of the criminal law;
(d) disclosure of a breach of statute;
(e) where failure to disclose would involve danger to the public;
(f) some other misdeed of public importance.
4.4  Examples of circumstances in which release of information may be certified as
necessary in the public interest are outlined in Part 4. These examples are not to
be read as in any way limiting the circumstances in which the release of
information may be regarded as necessary in the public interest.
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PART 4
SPECIFIC EXAMPLES
1.

1.1 Circumstances in which disclosure of information may be regarded as being
necessary in the public interest include, but are not limited to, disclosure to:
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(k) assist the police and/or coroner:
(i)
in establishing whether a person was alive at a particular time and
to provide information relating to their last known location, where
the person is missing and grave fears are held for their safety,
and/or someone has been, or is likely to be charged, with the
person’s murder (information on witness locations clearly should
not be disclosed);
(ii)
in establishing the whereabouts of a suspect in a murder
investigation where that person has been charged, or is likely to be
charged, with a person’s murder;
(iii)
with major criminal investigations (such as murder, abduction,
sexual assault, child molestation, serious drug offences, and major
fraud). The information released may include the names and
addresses of treating practitioners of individuals and/or details of
services for which medical and pharmaceutical benefits had been
paid;
(iv)
in identifying a deceased person. The information to be released
may include the person’s last known location, names and
addresses of treating practitioners and/or details of services for
which medical benefits may have been paid;
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(v)
in determining whether a missing person is deceased and the cause
and circumstances of the death where appropriate. In this case the
information to be released may include:
(A) whether or not a person had claimed a medical benefit or has
been supplied a pharmaceutical benefit after a certain date;
(B) the names and practice addresses of doctors who rendered
services or wrote prescriptions to the missing person over a
specified period;
(C) the names and practice addresses of doctors who rendered
services to a missing person over a specified period and a
description of the medical service rendered where an MBS
item number has been claimed;
(D) where relevant, the names and quantities of pharmaceutical
benefits supplied to the missing person over a specified period
and the names and addresses of the pharmacies from which
the pharmaceutical benefit were supplied; and
(E) where appropriate, the MBS item number and the date of the
service rendered;
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