Invasion of Privacy is not what you think it is

From: Brett Davis To: info@shoalhavenbushwalkers.com Subject: Invasion of Privacy is not what you think it is Date sent: April 11, 2025

Hi SBW committee, I am aware of at least one SECRET document sent out by the SBW committee to a club member in 2024 that described the conduct of that member in circulating an email to committee members as prejudicial to the interests of SBW in that the conduct constituted an invasion of privacy of a number of members of the club, including the members of the committee to whom the email was circulated. Unfortunately, the bush lawyer who advised the committee about the relevance of "invasion of privacy" in this scenario was sadly misinformed. In NSW, invasion of privacy is generally understood as an infringement upon an individual's protected right to privacy. It can be categorized into two main types: intrusion upon seclusion and misuse of private information. Intrusion upon seclusion involves physical intrusion or unauthorized observation of someone's private activities, while misuse of information entails the unauthorized collection, use, or disclosure of private information. Private information is legally regarded as a person’s name, address, and other details, as well as photographs, images, video or audio footage, biometric data like fingerprints and DNA samples, and health information, including medical records. Circulating an email does not involve any physical intrusion or unauthorized observation of any SBW members, nor does it involve the collection, use or disclosure of private information – apart from the email address of the member who sent the email which is freely available to all members of the club on the club website anyway. Therefore, the conduct of the member described in the SECRET letter was not an invasion of privacy. I would like to suggest that instead of first judging the member to be guilty, and then trying to find an offence that the member must have committed, it might be a better option for the committee to determine whether there was an offence first, and then judge the guilt or innocence of the member based on an analysis of the evidence. Regards, Brett TOP

This page shows one of the 35 suggestions to improve the club and its procedures sent by the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers webmaster to the SBW committee in 2025. The Shoalhaven Bushwalkers webmaster would have his membership cancelled for sending in these suggestions, although the real reason was probably because of two disputes he raised with the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers committee which they seemingly did not want to deal with. The cancellation of the webmaster's membership was arguably illegal under NSW law and could lead to the club being taken to court.