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Where am I now? Lawlink > privacynsw > Case Law > Fitzpatrick -v- Chief Executive Officer, Ambulance Service of NSW
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Fitzpatrick -v- Chief Executive Officer, Ambulance Service of NSW
[2003] NSWADT 132
Date of Decision: 4 June 2003
Case Note
The Ambulance Service advised the applicant of the outcome of his Internal Review in March 2002. In December 2002 the applicant applied for review by the Tribunal. The Ambulance Service claimed that the application was out of time, citing the 28 day rule for making applications without leave under the Tribunal’s rules. The judgment of 4 June 2003 was a preliminary determination of the Ambulance Service’s challenge.
The decision hinged on the relationship between the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act (PPIP Act) and Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act (ADT Act), and whether the Tribunal’s review of conduct under section 55 of the PPIP Act could be characterised as a review of an original decision or a review of a reviewable decision. A review under Part 5 of the PPIP Act relates to conduct rather than a decision. The Tribunal identified conflicting messages in the PPIP Act as to which sort of review was intended. On balance it concluded that the Act intended it to be a review of a reviewable decision.
Section 53 of the ADT Act deals with Internal Reviews of reviewable decisions in a range of administrative contexts. Section 55 of the ADT Act is the source of the Tribunal’s jurisdiction to set a time limit within which applications for review by the Tribunal can be made. However the application of section 55 of the ADT Act depends on than internal review being finalised in accordance with section 53.
Under section 52(4) of the PPIP Act, s 53 of the ADT Act does not apply to privacy matters brought to the Tribunal under the PPIP Act. Unlike internal reviews under the ADT Act, the PPIP Act does not make reference to when a privacy Internal Review can be taken as finalised. Section 55 of the ADT Act could therefore not apply to privacy reviews and the 28-day time limit under the Tribunal’s rules does not apply.
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