It was a simple case of following the breadcrumbs of information; starting with the Office of the NSW Information & Privacy Commissioner (IPC) which had provided some basic information on its website about who it considered the state’s stakeholders of NSW government records and documentation to be.

There a link was headed Practitioner’s Network, opening a page with basic information about the NSW Right to Information & Privacy Practitioner’s Network.  Since that initial discovery the IPC’s reference to the Network has changed.  At that time and within the NSW Government Sector it was well-known across the state as The Network.  First glance might have given the impression it had something to do with social media.

"New Top Cop for Singleton"
Image courtesy Singleton Argus' Paul Maguire, 22nd November 2012

But this could not have been further from the ugly truth.

Resultant internet searches located a free Google Website which has since been deleted; a subsequent website also vanishing from public view once enquiries began with a focus on just what this group of public servants was doing to ensure privacy rights were upheld and how decisions concerning open transparent government were being made.

Both deleted sites held Network Minutes of Meetings which detailed occurrences, forthcoming agendas, guest speakers, case studies concerning the GIPA and PPIP Acts of which the Network had primary interest and focus.

The Minutes revealed quarterly meetings were held in (2) two parts, the first of which the Information & Privacy Commissioners were inexplicably excluded, and were held at prestigious function centres such as the Jubilee Room and Theatrette of NSW Parliament House.  Later enquiries would provide evidence these swanky gatherings would be paid for by the Commissioners’ Office, such is the support for this stakeholder group.

It would later be discovered the Network would use this first ‘closed’ portion of the meetings to breach the public’s privacy and protect those doing so by relying on the prep-school Chatham House Rules.  At present there is no evidence to support the legitimate invoking of these so-called rules, particularly by government employees strictly bound by legislated privacy protection protocols.

It was on perusing those Minutes Telina Webb of NSW Freedom of Information came across the Minutes from the meeting of 27th March 2019.  It referred to a presentation by the Secretary, Dept of Communities & Justice’ (Justice NSW) Director of the Open Government Information & Privacy Unit Ms Jodie Cobbin, an ex-NSW Police Superintendent, now out of the cops and employed in an administrative role by Justice NSW; Ms Cobbin is positioned at the helm of the department responsible for processing requests for government-held information and ensuring the public’s personal information and privacy is protected.

Item 3 of the Minutes read “Dealing with Difficult Complainants”, with the agency’s generic email address infoandprivacy@justice.nsw.gov.au.  But a GIPA Application would show this was a misleading presentation title and had nothing to do with departmental handling of complaints.

Little did Ms Webb know the actual title of Ms Cobbin’s presentation was ‘Tale of a Fixated Applicant’, referring to a GIPA or PPIP Applicant, a member of the public attempting to exercise legally enforceable rights to access NSW government records or personal information.

Ms Webb lodged her valid access application with Justice NSW for a full and unredacted copy of Ms Cobbin’s presentation, only to receive a heavily redacted version of it.  But what was clear from the information disclosed, was that the presentation listed Jodie Cobbin as author, with the Justice NSW logo clearly legible on the departmental powerpoint template she’d used for the purpose.

Among the information that had been redacted was the personal information of members of the public, used for the public presentation.  Ms Cobbin’s Sworn Affidavit revealed she’d used that personal information to tell a tale of a fixated GIPA / PPIP applicant and she wanted her state-wide audience to know who she was talking about; she wanted to inform her audience of these individuals to watch out for.

But she did not want Ms Webb to know who she was talking about in case she shared it on the website www.nswfreedomofinformation.net; or so the Justice’ Notice of Decision stated.

The presentation was published and circulated statewide to some (500) five hundred Network members, warning them in effect that these individuals were exhibiting concerning behaviours Ms Cobbin had personally identified as fixated, sharing her personal strategies for dealing with such people.

Despite being heavily redacted the presentation revealed it to be a shocking example of how NSW government agencies blatantly act, and encourage others to act, outside and in breach of the legislation, in this instance regarding both the GIPA and PPIP Acts.

Again, the presentation was made to the NSW Right to Information & Privacy Practitioners Network, not just privacy and not just information access individually.  Indeed some of those officers are known to do both jobs so very often there is no differentiation between them.

Fast forward past the Justice NSW initial Notice of Decision not to provide full access to a departmental policy document that had already been published state-wide.  Today, 13th June 2023, Justice NSW had issued a secondary version with slightly less redactions, along with Ms Cobbin’s Sworn Affidavit to live NCAT proceedings where she disclosed she had used the public’s personal information for a collateral purpose; to identify and single out individuals and use them as examples of what qualifies as a fixated GIPA / PPIP applicant and how she deals out her own measure of justice.

By the end of the amended presentation, Ms Cobbin would reveal a few of her methodologies for controlling, managing, and effectively dealing with these problematic individuals including:
Formally restricting access to services such as only accepting correspondence via Australia Post.  No emails and no phone calls would be accepted or acknowledged.
Exploring seeking legal costs against GIPA Applicants who take up their legislated rights for Administrative Review with NCAT, despite there being no mechanism in either the GIPA or PPIP Acts for such leaving no jurisdictional powers within NCAT to entertain such an Application.
Engaging and using NSW Police to intervene on behalf of Justice NSW.
Collaborating with other agencies, effectively breaching the public’s personal privacy and working with other agencies to compound the control and management of problematic individuals.
Seeking formal Restraint Orders under the GIPA Act 2009 Section 110, in order to make asking for government information as difficult and costly as possible in the hope of dissuading future applications.

These points were revealed.

But there were whole pages blacked out for fear the public might be informed of the rules of Ms Cobbin's game, which might be considered entrapment.

The matter is listed for hearing on 09th October 2023 where Ms Cobbin will be cross-examined about both her public presentation and her decision to impede full and proper access to it.
Contact:
Jodie CobbinJodie.cobbin@justice.nsw.gov.au
Jonathan Franklinjonathan.franklin@justice.nsw.gov.au