Leonie Hemsworth’s personal details included in Daniel Andrews’s document dump
PREMIER Daniel Andrews says he is “certain” the government will not be exposed to expensive legal action after breaching the privacy of ordinary Victorians in its botched document dump, as he again apologised.
VIC News
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PREMIER Daniel Andrews says he is “certain” the government will not be exposed to expensive legal action after breaching the privacy of ordinary Victorians in its botched document dump.
Mr Andrews apologised again this morning for the “inadvertent inclusions” but did not explain how the bungle happened.
The documents have now been removed from the Parliament’s website after a string of breaches were exposed by the Herald Sun.
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“There are a number of inadvertent conclusions in the documents, things that were filed that shouldn’t have been, and I’m sorry for that,” Mr Andrews said at Cowes on Phillip Island this morning.
“The Speaker has a process in place and I’m confident he’s got those matters in hand.”
Asked if he was worried about legal action against the government, the Premier pointed to comments made by the Information Commissioner, who said the documents were tabled under parliamentary privilege which meant he could not investigate.
Mr Andrews said parliamentary privilege was of an “absolute nature” as he batted away questions about the risk of being sued by people whose privacy was breached.
“It is regrettable, we are sorry,” he said.
The Premier - who was at Cowes Primary School with Education Minister and deputy premier James Merlino - said he would “need to come back” to reporters on whether the government had directly apologised to anyone other than a barrister whose financial and medical details were laid bare.
More than 80,000 pages of documents were dumped on Monday after Mr Andrews told public servants to cough them up in a bid to damage Opposition Leader Matthew Guy over a botched and costly rezoning of Phillip Island land.
The Premier’s apology came shortly after the Herald Sun revealed a property owner involved in the Ventnor saga had his bank account details published.
The Herald Sun revealed this morning the man’s BSB and account number were included in the files, putting him at risk of identity fraud.
The document also included details of the man’s tax returns and rental arrangements.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said this morning the entire saga was a “disgusting debacle” caused by a “sloppy, lazy, vengeful, nasty” government.
“It’s the lowest form of politics and I think Victorians are sick of it,” Mr Guy said.
“(People’s) whole lives have been put online, and all of this simply for political vengeance.
“That says so much about the Premier’s character.”
“They haven’t even checked it. It beggars belief that they could release so much information and not one of their 600 staff bothered to check it.”
After the Herald Sun revealed a string of ordinary Victorians had their privacy breached in the files, Speaker Colin Brooks ordered the documents be removed until he could receive further advice.
Parliament this morning scrambled to take down more than 80,000 pages of documents.
“Given the volume of documents and the sensitive issues raised I’ve asked that the online link to documents be taken down this morning,” Mr Brooks said.
He urged anyone concerned about their private details being caught up in the document dump to contact the Parliament via email: assembly@parliament.vic.gov.au
The documents are still available in hard copy at the Parliament.
It is unclear how long it will take the Speaker’s office to review the documents before they can be put back online.
The removal of documents comes as the mother of Hollywood superstars Chris and Liam Hemsworth was swept up in the debacle.
The State Parliament was last night scrambling to remove the personal details of Leonie Hemsworth.
The Herald Sun alerted the Andrews Government and Mr Brooks that Mrs Hemsworth was one of several Victorians whose sensitive information was released in the Premier’s privacy breach fiasco.
As chaos reigned in State Parliament on Thursday, Mr Andrews was left red-faced yet again after announcing “we’ve apologised to the person involved” in the first breach revealed by the Herald Sun — hours before the apology was actually given.
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The barrister was eventually contacted by the Premier’s office, after her and her daughter’s personal details were online for two days, but she is considering legal action.
“I found the experience quite distressing and unsettling, to have my personal information, and my daughter’s, out there,” she said.
A psychologist and lawyers caught up in the bungle hit out at the privacy breach, as legal figures warned the fiasco could spark court action costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The Opposition demanded Mr Andrews’ resignation as the government attacked Mr Guy over the Phillip Island scandal.
The government used its numbers to censure Mr Guy, after the documents showed he cost taxpayers $3.5 million to settle a case linked to the bungled housing development plan, calling him to “immediately resign” and pay back the money.
During several hours of parliamentary debate about the government’s censure motion, Deputy Premier James Merlino said Mr Guy had made “a dodgy deal with Liberal Party associates” and “stole money from the public as a payout when it went wrong”.
But the blow back was fierce, with Mr Guy saying the “disgusting debacle is a snapshot into the Premier’s soul”.
Mrs Hemsworth was a Phillip Island local who opposed the Ventnor rezoning decision.
The Herald Sun was unable to contact her on Thursday night, but alerted the Speaker and the government, which said the matter would be addressed.
Liam Hemsworth’s fiancee, US pop star Miley Cyrus, helped make the Ventnor saga a world story when she called for the “magical place” to be protected.
An patient assessment by psychologist Dr Tony McHugh was still online on Thursday.
“This should not have happened — it is not appropriate,” he said.
Others swept up in the privacy breaches include a planning lawyer hired on a matter unrelated to Ventnor.
The Leader in the House, Jacinta Allan, was unremorseful, saying it was “unfortunate that information was published through the media before the parliament had a chance to address this issue”.
The government had made no effort to remove sensitive private information before being alerted by the Herald Sun.
Ms Allan criticised the Opposition for “trawling through” the files, despite Mr Merlino declaring on Monday “it is now over to the Victorian community, the broad public, journalists to examine those documents”.
Government Upper House leader Gavin Jennings admitted concerns about the “quality assurance process” to protect people’s privacy.
Victorian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel said he was virtually powerless to investigate because the documents were released under parliamentary privilege.
Law Institute of Victoria president Belinda Wilson said the “serious breach of privacy” could lead to legal action, and demanded assurances it would not happen again.
Ex-privacy commissioner David Watts predicted a possible class action against the state.
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