A sick man whose private medical history was used without his permission in a NSW government press release that declared the state's workers' compensation scheme was out of control, has won the right to pursue sacked former finance minister Greg Pearce for damages.
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The man, from northern NSW, has fought for nearly two years to have the state government deal with his breach of privacy complaint.
Mr Pearce, who was sacked by former Premier Barry O'Farrell in August last year after he appointed his wife's boss to a plum job as a director of Sydney Water, is alleged to have contravened the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002.
Mr Pearce issued a press release in April 2012, warning that WorkCover was "fast becoming unviable" and faced a $4 billion deficit.
To prove the point, the minister's office included two case studies of long-term users of workers' compensation.
The first detailed how a worker had received $657,000 since 2001 after suffering chronic fatigue stemming from an earlier case of glandular fever.
"The worker travels more than 1000 kilometres to see the treating doctor based in another state," the press release stated.
"The worker claims interstate travel costs to see their treating doctor, domestic assistance, lawn mowing, multiple weekly physiotherapy, chiropractic therapy, psychiatric therapy and exercise physiology.
``More than 10 years after making the claim, the worker continues to receive the maximum weekly workers' compensation benefits, even though working part time in a different field."
The man – referred to by the Civil and Administrative Tribunal as "AQO" – became aware his medical history had been published when friends and family read his case in the media and recognised it was referring to him.
In his original complaint to the government, AQO said: "Those details are so specific that they have not been revealed to Mr Pearce or the world at large and are not on the public record.
"He has then used the information in a way that it was not intended to be used. In doing so he has breached my privacy."
The Sun-Herald has learned AQO had written to Mr O'Farrell when submissions had been called for a proposed overhaul of WorkCover.
A response letter said his complaint had been referred to Mr Pearce but the state government's general manager for workers' compensation would reply. However, before a response was receieve AQO's details appeared in the press release.
At the time, Mr Pearce's office refused to deal with his complaint by claiming a jurisdictional point that the minister was not a "public sector agency" and therefore could not be pursued under the privacy laws.
In a decision this month, the Tribunal threw out the government's defence and found that it has the jurisdiction to hear and decide whether AQO's privacy has been breached.
When contacted by The Sun-Herald, AQO did not wish to have his name used but said through his lawyer, Jackson Rogers, that he was "extremely disappointed" that the government had fought to prevent his complaint even being considered.
Mr Pearce wasunavailable to comment but a spokesman for Finance and Services Minister Dominic Perrottet said: "This matter is still before the tribunal, therefore we are unable to comment."
Stephen Blanks, president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, said it was "good news" that the government had already amended privacy laws to clarify that a minister and their office are subject to protections against privacy breaches.
