Law Compliance Report - current edition - Report - Page 13
August 2024 Edition
Victoria Update
Disability and Social Services Regulation Amendment Act 2023 (Vic)
On 27 March 2024, subdivision 3 of division 2 of Part 2 of the Disability and Social Services
Regulation Amendment Act 2023 (Vic) (the Amending Act) came into effect to amend the
Disability Act 2006 (Vic) (the Act). The amendment will repeal certain subsections of section
39 of the Act and replace them with the new sections 202AB and 202AC of the Act.
Disclosure, use or transfer of protected
information
The former section 39(2), (3), (3A), (4), (5), (6), (7),
(8) and (9) of the Act, which dealt with information
sharing obligations of disability service providers,
has been repealed and re-enacted under the new
Part 8A of the Act (containing sections 202AA –
202AE).
Section 202AB(1) of the Act, clarifies the obligation
on a relevant person not to disclose, use or transfer
protected information unless the disclosure, use or
transfer is:
•
a person who is, or has been, employed or
engaged by a disability service provider or former
disability service provider;
•
a person who otherwise provides or has provided,
services under the Act;
•
a person who is or has been a member of staff of
the public service for the purposes of the Act;
•
the Senior Practitioner;
•
a registered NDIS provider that uses restrictive
practices or implements supervised treatment
orders;
•
made in the performance or a function or exercise
of a power under the Act or any other Act
(including any Commonwealth Act); or
•
a former NDIS provider that used restrictive
practices or implemented supervised treatment
orders;
•
required or permitted by or under the Act or any
other Act (including any Commonwealth Act).
•
a person who is, or has been, employed or
engaged by a registered NDIS provider specified
in the eighth dot point above;
•
a person who is, or has been, employed or
engaged by a former NDIS provider specified in
the ninth dot point above.
The penalty for breach of section 202AB(1) remains
the same as under the former section 39 of the Act,
that being, 20 penalty units (currently, $3,846.20).
The definition of relevant person has been
introduced under the new section 202AA of the Act
to clarify and expand the categories of persons who
are caught by the information sharing obligations
under the Act. They now include any of the
following:
The definition of protected information has also
been added into the new section 202AA of the Act
and means information that is gained by or given to
a relevant person in their official capacity and
identifies, or is likely to identify a person to whom
the information relates, and it is either obtained:
a person who is or has been appointed to any
office under the Act or employed or engaged
under the Act;
•
during the course of providing disability services
to the person; or
•
a disability service provider;
•
•
a former disability service provider;
by the relevant person using restrictive practices
or implementing supervised treatment on the
person.
•
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