The Department of Finance has announced that its ‘Privacy Policy’ has been updated to reflect the language used in the Parliamentary Service Amendment (Independent Parliamentary Workplace Complaints Mechanism) Determination 2022.
According to the Department the changes are to ensure the Department may use and disclose personal and sensitive information relating to incidents involving a parliamentarian and/or Parliamentary employee.
The Department said the updated policy allows Finance to use and disclose collected personal and sensitive information for the primary purpose for which it was collected, including to manage human resources for individuals employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 (MOP(S) Act), and assist in complying with Finance’s workplace health and safety obligations.
It said these would include ensuring that appropriate support and referral procedures were in place, including disclosing personal and sensitive information to the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service (PWSS) to assist performance of its functions, as well as investigating and providing support for serious incidents or misconduct relating to a parliamentarian and/or a MOP(S) Act employee.
Finance said it may also use or disclose personal information for a secondary purpose where an exception applies that may include an individual reasonably expecting the secondary use or disclosure, and that is related to the primary purpose of collection or, in the case of sensitive information, directly related to the primary purpose
It said this could include where Finance may need to liaise with the PWSS on serious incidents or misconduct relating to a parliamentarian and/or a MOP(S) Act employee.
A summary of the policy is available at the Departmen at this PS News link with the full policy available at this link.
