The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) - Victorian Branch, registered a significant victory last month by successfully halting the privatisation of a crucial government department. The Victoria government had begun to float the plan to privatise the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM), which would have granted private investors access to citizens' personal data, including sensitive information. CPSU’s sustained campaign among the community ensured that the government take back its plan and continue to have BDM as a government department. 

BDM has been recording significant life events since 1853 and is critical to people’s lives as it records and manages the most intimate personal details of all Victorians. It safeguards vital data such as births, deaths, marriages, name changes, and gender affirmations. This asset and its history belong to the entire state and should be in public hands, protected from corporate exploitation. The publicly owned BDM and the people who work there are the custodians of precious records. 

CPSU represents the workers in BDM and ran a campaign, under their broader "Proud to be Public" movement, to educate the community on the risk this plan posed to their most important personal records and data. It informed the people about the dangers of giving their data in private hands. The Union ran many creative video ads which were very effective in communicating the issue. 

BDM holds some of the most important and sensitive data of the over 6 million citizens of Victoria. Its privatisation would have had many detrimental effects. It could have placed precious data of people in the hands of private companies with no guarantees on data protection. It would have allowed the private companies to jack up the cost of obtaining certificates or registering information. People's sensitive information could potentially be sold to third party for advertising in an attempt to earn return over investments made in buying the Registry. Creative video ads by the CPSU, like this one, effectively communicated the issue to the public. 

CPSU urged the citizens of Victoria to stand against the move by signing a petition. The overwhelming response, with over 5,000 signatures, made it clear that the people did not want their intimate details to fall into private hands. The mounting public pressure forced the government to withdraw its privatisation plans. 

The purpose of CPSU’s campaign was to generate community support to keep Victorians private information fully in government hands and to re-open BDM to the public. 

In June this year, Treasurer Tim Pallas had met investors and floated the idea of privatising some parts of the BDM. As the information of the meeting became public, the government started to face backlash from various quarters. CPSU launched a massive campaign. It mobilised the workers who work on BDM, as well as went to the common public and exposed the government’s plans and associated concerns.  

On 13th September, Pallas said that the plan had been cancelled. 

“Sale of Victoria’s personal life data would have been a disaster. We welcome the common-sense decision not to proceed down that path,” said Karen Batt, CPSU Victoria Branch Secretary. 

CPSU was able to protect the public’s most personal records, ensuring this vital service remains publicly owned and operated. This victory highlights the power of collective action in safeguarding public services from corporate profiteering. To celebrate the victory, CPSU created yet other ad to spread the message that the BDM remains in public hands. You can see it here.