[LINK] Centrelink staff sacked for privacy breaches

[Marghanita da Cruz]

...sorry found I hadn't sent this message...

Driving from Canberra to Sydney yesterday morning the topic on the radio
was the move of a 100 centrelink jobs from Canberra to Adelaide.

Local MPs including Humphries (?) and Kate Lundy rang in - these people
and other Callers raised issues of
support for local it businesses,
employing Australian Citizens only in the Public Service (note it took a
while for the ABC radio person to get this message - they kept talking
about permanent residents) about .

...I am confused....maybe it does have something to do with Adelaide
being the home town of the Democrats, David hicks and Alexander Downer.

Marghanita

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> What do you find wrong:
> 
> The fact that the staff were investigated?
> The fact that they used "spyware" to do the investigation?
> The fact that offences were found to have occurred?
> The fact that the offences did occur?
> The fact that so many offences occurred?
> The fact that the finding was publicised?
> The fact that action was taken against the staff?
> 
> I have a close friend that works in a branch of Centrelink and his ex 
> alleged that he was accessing her record inappropriately.  He was 
> exonerated but was counselled that he had not told Centrelink that his 
> ex was a Centrelink client when he was employed.
> 
> Kim Holburn wrote:
> 
>> Almost everything about this seem wrong to me.
>>
>> http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1721505.htm
>>
>>> Hundreds of Centrelink staff have been caught inappropriately looking 
>>> up the records of friends and ex-lovers.
>>>
>>> The privacy breaches were uncovered using specially designed spyware 
>>> software.
>>>
>>> As a result of a two-year investigation, Centrelink has uncovered 
>>> nearly 800 cases of what it has described as inappropriate access by 
>>> staff to customer records.
>>>
>>> Nineteen staff have been sacked and nearly 100 resigned when they 
>>> were confronted with the allegations.
>>>
>>> Five of the cases have also been referred by Centrelink to the 
>>> Australian Federal Police (AFP).
>>>
>>> Centrelink general manager Hank Jongen says breaches of customers' 
>>> privacy will not be tolerated.
>>>
>>> "It was done for a whole range of reasons - from just sticky-beaking, 
>>> through to at the more serious end of records actually being 
>>> changed," he said.
>>>
>>> More than 300 Centrelink staff are also facing salary deductions or 
>>> fines, while 46 have been reprimanded.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Kim Holburn
>> IT Network & Security Consultant
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>>                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961
>>
>>
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-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
Ramin Communications
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: 0414-869202
Email: marghanita at ramin.com.au