Office of the Australian Information Commission

24th November 2011

Mr Timothy Pilgrim

Australian Privacy Commissioner

Office of the Australian Information Commission

GPO Box 5218

Sydney NSW 2001

Dear Sir,

RE:Support for Application for a Public Interest Determination from UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide – October 2011

On behalf of Southern Junction Community Services Inc, I express support for the content and intention of the application from UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide for a Public Interest Determination (PID) under Part VI of the Privacy Act and in so doing seek for the Australian Privacy Commissioner to decide to issue a determination under the sec 72(4) of the Privacy Act giving general effect to the PID.

Southern Junction Community Services is an independent not-for-profit, community organisation with a proud heritage of dynamically responding to the needs of marginalised young people and disadvantaged families in Adelaide’s southern suburbs and the Fleurieu Peninsula that spans over 25 years. Working collaboratively with groups and individuals, other organisations and government agencies we deliver an increasingly diverse range of support and intervention services to assist people to cope more effectively and make positive choices for the future. Our broad range of integrated services, including Children's Services, Residential Youth Services, Professional Counseling, Home & Family Support Services and Housing Services are mostly based upon a series of Master Agreements and service-specific Funding and Service Agreements with State Government departments. Other funding and service agreements describe various forms of partnership with Commonwealth, State and Local Governments.

Whilst working within this multi–layered framework of service provision to children, young people and their families our staff are often operating in challenging situations that require lawful, carefully considered and consistent decisions around information sharing issues that impact upon the level of safety and well-being of vulnerable individuals. In such circumstances, our staff is very conscious of the responsibility to act professionally and reduce the likelihood of harm from threats to an individual’s life, health and safety. In this context and in cooperation with the South Australian Office of the Guardian for Children and Young People we have registered our intent to become compliant with Information Sharing Guidelines (ISG) and enthusiastically commenced the process of writing an ISG Appendix.

I therefore submit that it is in the best interests of our clientele, staff, service providers and significant others that we have clarity around the definition and current threshold of ‘a serious and imminent threat’ as defined in the Privacy Act 1988, in determining the point at which we are permitted to share/exchange relevant information without breaching confidentiality and when informed consent has not been given.

It is notable that in the ‘best endeavors’ of individuals and agencies in a coordinated and collaborative working relationship that the provision of ‘seamless’ and ‘joined up’ services to our clientele, may potentially be thwarted at the most critical and vulnerable point, the threat to an individual’s life, health and safety. In some situations, any ambiguity that causes a delay in the sharing/exchanging of critical/confidential information may compromise a safe and desirable outcome.

We believe that the ISG will mitigate the ambiguous nature of ‘a serious and imminent threat to an individual’s life, health or safety’ as defined in the Act, providing a more concise and practical context to the lawfully permitted threshold for which information may be shared and/or exchanged and therefore facilitating a timely and better informed intervention.

In addition we support the application for consent to record sensitive information as it may relate to the implementation of the ISG.

Thank you for your consideration of our comments supporting the Application for a Public Interest Determination from UnitingCare Wesley – Adelaide.

Yours faithfully,

Graham Brown

Chief Executive Officer

Southern Junction Community Services Inc.

Southern Junction Community Services Inc

PO Box 66 Christies Beach SA 5165 Ph (08) 8392 3000 Fax (08) 8382 7112