The complaint arose from these two questions contained in a Department of Work and Income (DWI) application form for 'living alone payments' for superannuitants:

- Do you have a visitor staying with you?
- How long has your visitor been staying with you?

The complainant considered they were irrelevant to DWI's purpose for collecting the information about the complainant, and were an invasion of privacy.

The complaint raised issues under information privacy principles 1 and 4.

Principle 1

Principle 1 provides that the collection of information must be necessary for the purpose for which it is collected.

DWI advised it administered the 'living alone' payment in terms of the relevant legislation which provided that 'a person shall be considered to be living alone if he or she does not share that residence with any person of or over the age of 18, other than a temporary visitor who stays less than 13 weeks in any period of 26 weeks'.

DWI's purpose in collecting the information was to assist in establishing whether the criteria for the payment were being met.

It was not clear to me why it was necessary to collect information concerning all superannuitants who indicated they had visitors staying with them, as the living alone payment was affected only in the cases of superannuitants who had visitors for more than 13 weeks. Accordingly I advised DWI that, in my opinion, it was in breach of principle 1. I suggested than a modified version of the questions, directed specifically to superannuitants who had a visitor staying for more than 13 weeks, would achieve DWI's purpose and not be in breach. DWI agreed to the modification.

Principle 4

Principle 4 provides that personal information is not to be collected by an agency by unlawful means, or by means that, in the circumstances of the case, are unfair or intrude to an unreasonable extent upon the personal affairs of the individual concerned.

The question was whether the means used to collect the information were unfair or unreasonably intrusive in the circumstances. As the means used were by the inclusion of two questions on the application, I considered it was not unfair or unreasonably intrusive in the circumstances, and that there was no breach of principle 4.

Indexing terms: Collecting personal information - DWI - Questions in benefit application - Not necessary for purpose - Modification suggested - Information privacy principle 1

Collecting personal information - DWI - Questions in benefit application - Not unfair or intrusive - Information privacy principle 4

June 2001