Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds, senior council staff disclosed councillor’s personal information without consent: Ombudsman
An Ombudsman has found Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds and senior council staff breached privacy laws by disclosing Councillor Louise Elliot’s personal information without her consent.
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Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds and other senior council staff breached privacy laws by disclosing Councillor Louise Elliot’s personal information without her consent, exposing “a serious governance, cultural and training issue within council”, the state’s Ombudsman has found.
In September 2023, Ms Elliot had attempted to book the Hobart Town Hall ballroom for an invite only “community forum on women’s rights and free speech”.
She made the booking request using her name and private email, without making reference to her position as an elected member.
Ms Elliot’s booking attempts were unsuccessful and she was informed by the Hobart City Council that the venue wasn’t available on each of the dates she had requested.
LGBTQIA+ advocates had raised concerns that the planned event would be a platform for the airing of transphobic views and could cause harm in the community.
Ms Elliot made a complaint to the office of Ombudsman Richard Connock in December 2023 after she became aware that her personal information had been shared without her consent following the booking attempts.
An investigation was eventually launched and the Mercury has seen the final report.
He found that at a September 28, 2023 meeting of the council’s executive leadership team, a senior manager disclosed to others in attendance that Ms Elliot had attempted to make the booking.
While the discussion was outside the formal business of the meeting and wasn’t recorded in the minutes, Mr Connock said the manager was a “personal information custodian” and had breached the PIP Act by making the disclosure “for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was collected”.
Mr Connock said Ms Reynolds had learned of Ms Elliot’s booking attempt during a meeting with the acting CEO of the council in November 2023, when the latter informed her of the matter.
According to the Ombudsman, the Lord Mayor subsequently passed that information on to a prominent LGBTQIA+ activist and “suggested the spokesperson contact council to discuss their concerns about the potential booking and provided them with the acting CEO’s contact details”.
In evidence given to the Ombudsman, Ms Reynolds said she had shared the information for “lawful and legitimate purposes”.
The individual to whom Ms Reynolds provided Ms Elliot’s information contacted the council by email on November 15, 2023 to express concern about the attempt to book the event in the Town Hall. The Ombudsman found that a senior council officer then called the community member and “discussed the intended booking by the complainant with them”, which was considered a further breach of the PIP Act.
The final contravention of privacy laws identified by the Ombudsman related to the council’s failure to “take the reasonable steps necessary to ensure that its own practices, policies and procedures were sufficiently known to staff”.
“[The] failure by senior members of staff and the Lord Mayor to turn their minds at all to the requirements of the PIP Act and council’s own extensive suite of policies and procedures appears to indicate a serious governance, cultural and training issue within council,” Mr Connock said.
The Ombudsman made two recommendations, including that the council require and ensure all management staff and elected members undergo mandatory training on their obligations under the PIP Act and the council’s policies and procedures regarding the legislation.
In a statement, Ms Elliot said the findings showed the Lord Mayor “doesn’t have a grip on the fundamental basics of governance like privacy and discrimination law”.
“The length the Hobart City Council – including its Lord Mayor – have gone to stop a women’s rights private event from happening is unfathomable,” she said.
Hobart City Council CEO Michael Stretton – who was not part of the council when the breaches were made – said the council had issued an “unreserved” public apology to Ms Elliot at a special meeting in July last year.
“The city has previously engaged with multiple independent investigations into the substantive matter,” he said.
“The city will offer relevant training per the Ombudsman’s recommendations.”
Ms Reynolds said she was happy to follow the recommendations of the report and noted that council members and staff undertook a level of training around their obligations under privacy legislation.
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Originally published as Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds, senior council staff disclosed councillor’s personal information without consent: Ombudsman
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