The government agency overseeing doctors, dentists and chiropractors has applied to regain warrantless access to Australians’ phone and web metadata to help it investigate whether medical practitioners are sleeping with their patients.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is one of 61 agencies that have applied to the attorney general, George Brandis, to be classed as “criminal law-enforcement agencies” to gain warrantless access to telecommunications data.
They were removed from a list of agencies that could access the information from telecommunications companies with the advent of the government’s mandatory data retention laws.
While Brandis insisted data retention would only be used to gather evidence on serious crimes, a provision was created to allow other agencies to reapply for access to the information. The provision contains no requirement that these agencies must be investigating serious criminal law offences.
The data has been sought by a range of other agencies, including the National Measurement Institute, which oversees food and packaged goods, including lamb chops.
A spokeswoman for AHPRA said the agency had in the past used telecommunications data infrequently but had used it in investigations “often in relation to allegations of boundary violations between patients and practitioners”.
“While still likely to be professional misconduct, demonstrating that a sexual relationship commenced during the treatment period is an aggravating factor going to sanction,” she said.
She added: “In a current case we are asking the practitioner to explain the significant volume of calls passing between her and the patient during the treatment relationship. Her legal counsel has indicated that she is likely to concede that a personal relationship had developed at the time, however did not become sexual until after the treatment relationship ended.”
She said data had been used to track the volume of calls and texts between practitioners and patients, the location of calls and as corroborating evidence for text messages.
“In a current matter before the tribunal, we identified that a significant volume of calls made by the patient were transmitted by the tower close by the practitioner’s residential address when the patient resided on the other side of town,” she said, adding: “In one matter, the complainant provided screenshots of text messages alleged to have originated from the practitioner’s phone.
“Telephone records corroborated the allegations and allowed the board to exclude the possibility of the screenshot text messages having been fabricated or from another source.”
The spokeswoman said AHPRA took measures to protect any sensitive information it gathered in secure databases.
The list of agencies was disclosed by the Attorney General’s Department after freedom of information requests from Geordie Guy on Right to Know and ZDnet. It includes the RSPCA Victoria, Australia Post, Bankstown council and dozens of other state and territory agencies involved in the investigation of relatively minor offences.
Access Canberra – which oversees fines, drivers’ licences and liquor licences across the Australian Capital Territory – has also sought to regain access.
A spokesman said: “It is a function of the Access Canberra statutory office holders to investigate and prosecute breaches of the legislation it administers. Access Canberra investigators utilise a range of information sources and investigation tools when undertaking its investigations.”
The Attorney General’s Department has declined to comment on the status of the 61 applications.