r/legaladviceaustralia

So as the title says my ex and his mother are claiming they sort out legal advice in regard to their belongings which I told them they had 9mths to collect and have abandoned them to my understanding as no attempts until now have been made. Me and him came to an agreement that I would give it back cleaned and all packed and ready even though I didn’t have to due to text messages where he has told me to just chuck everything out his and his mother’s belongings. The agreement which we both agreed on was if I didn’t have everything packed and cleaned by this weekend then he was to wait until I had done it no given time line for when it had to be done by before he booked a truck or anything. He has now messaged me yesterday saying he saw a lawyer and I have 14 days to do it and he’s booked a truck and I’ve said no we had a pre standing agreement that can not be changed unless we both agree to the change and yes his items were abandoned to my knowledge correct me if I am wrong as I’ve given him and his mother since beginning of January to collect their things but they have not made any attempts until now. He has also claimed he had booked a truck twice which he never told me about. What do I do? He broke most of our furniture and we’ve been using what was his until I saved up enough to get our own again. Something he is aware of as I’m still paying for the debts he left me as well something he said he would help pay but hasn’t.

I had a meeting with my manager, the HR representative and OH&S representative for my branch at work and they indicated that they may request for me to take an extended period of unpaid leave (I have used all my sick leave and annual leave). I have several chronic illnesses and after my most recent diagnosis and talking to my GP and psychologist, I determined that I was unable to continue to work full time.

I spoke to my manager, the head of my department and HR to request a reduction to 3 days per week. This was then approved and I have been working part-time now for just over a month. In this time I have had to take a few more days off and due to not having sick leave have taken a day of sick leave without pay (mostly with a medical certificate, but there have been a few days where I haven't been able to get one). These days of sick leave without pay/leave without pay have all been approved by my manager and the head of the department.

During my initial meeting with HR they brought up that they would like to send my Doctor and the specialist who diagnosed my most recent chronic illness, some questions to answer about my fitness for work (they sent the questions to me first and I approved and gave my consent). I spoke with my specialist a couple of weeks ago as she had received this email and wanted to speak to me about it, during our discussion she indicated that she was happy to send a summary of my condition, but didn't feel comfortable with answering the detailed questions they were asking as she is not my primary care doctor and doesn't have a full understanding of my medical history. I sent the short letter with the summary to my manager and the HR representative and explained the above and gave them the details for my GP again as I hadn't heard from them that they had received a request for this information.

After my meeting today it seems that they have only sent this to my specialist and not my GP so once again I gave them information to contact my GP. It was during this meeting that they (the HR representative and the OH&S representative) suggested that if I was found to not be fit for work (although they didn't give a definition of 'fit for work') that they would ask me to take an extended period of leave (which would be unpaid as I have no leave left to take this year) which could be as long as a few months.

Can I be forced to take this leave?

I don't know if I would be eligible for any disability payments from Centrelink for this time as I know when I enquired last (pending my diagnosis) that I wouldn't have qualified, but it may be different if it's been established that I'm not fit to work. I haven't been able to find any information on the Centrelink website as it just goes through how to apply and the different payments and concessions available. Even if I am eligible it could take up to 12 weeks to make a decision and get a payment.

I have a bit of a cushion in terms of an emergency fund but definitely not for an extended period of no income.

Has anyone done any analysis of existing workplace legislation on the use of AI in performance management apart from surveillance? E.g. use of AI tools by managers in performance related emails or performance review documentation etc.? And even how to spot its use where it hasn't been disclosed? What's the lay of the legal land here? Any cases yet?

I’m in Victoria but this relates to Queensland Police and the Queensland Right to Information Act.

I was the victim in a serious criminal investigation in Queensland several years ago. Multiple people were charged and the matter progressed to committal proceedings, but ultimately did not proceed further.

Earlier this year I submitted an RTI application to QPS requesting the records relating to me and the investigation. I requested things such as the QPRIME/occurrence records, investigation reports, crime scene photos, forensic material, police notes, correspondence, briefs of evidence, CCTV/body-worn camera footage and other records relating to the investigation.

I have been waiting for 5 months and there have already been extensions. On the date I was expecting the documents, I instead received a Notice under s 41 stating that QPS intends to refuse to deal with the application unless I change the scope.

QPS says they’ve already spent 10 hours on my application and preliminary searches have identified 420+ pages and more than 15 hours of video. They estimate approximately 252 hours to process the footage and 21+ hours to review the documents. They have suggested that I narrow my entire application down to just the occurrence report and my own witness statement (which I already have from when I wrote it). 

I really do not want to do that. These records relate to an extremely significant criminal investigation, and obtaining a comprehensive understanding of what occurred during the investigation is very important to me. 

I completely understand that 15+ hours of body-worn camera footage may create an unreasonable workload, and I am willing to substantially narrow or even exclude that footage from this particular application if necessary. However, I would really like to retain as much of the documentary investigation file as reasonably possible rather than receiving only two documents.

I have now been given 10 business days to consult with QPS and revise the scope. The letter also says that if I narrow it and the revised scope is still considered an unreasonable diversion of resources, I will not receive another opportunity to consult, so I’m nervous about agreeing to anything without understanding the consequences. 

What are my options here? Is there a way to negotiate a reasonably broad scope rather than accepting their suggestion of only two documents? Can QPS progressively process/release records? If I exclude video footage now, can I make a separate, much narrower RTI application for specific footage later? Is there any mechanism for voluntarily paying additional processing costs/resources? Would it be worthwhile getting an RTI/privacy lawyer or advocate involved during the consultation period?

I’m also wondering whether anyone has successfully challenged a QPS s 41 “substantial and unreasonable diversion of resources” decision, or has experience negotiating the scope of a large QPS RTI request.

I’m not trying to make an unreasonable demand on staff. I just don’t want to inadvertently give up access to potentially important parts of the investigation file because I don’t understand the RTI process well enough.

Any Queensland RTI experience or suggestions about what I should do before formally narrowing the application would be greatly appreciated.