Sydney Mardi Gras board candidate Savanna Peake has been rebuked by the Australian Labor Party for using a party email list to distribute Protect Mardi Gras campaign material, prompting renewed scrutiny over her handling of personal data just days after a university student was outed to her family by a separate mail-out promoting Peake's candidacy.
The ALP confirmed to a complainant that it had spoken to Peake after he received an unsolicited Protect Mardi Gras campaign email from her "Savanna4Wentworth" Gmail account.
Seven hours before this GSN story was published, NSW Labor and Peake were approached for comment. Labor didn't respond, while Peake said that she'd get back to GSN “shortly”, less than an hour after the request was sent for comment. GSN hadn't received a response from Peake at the time of publication.
Peake unsuccessfully ran as Labor's candidate for Wentworth in the last federal election and is now seeking a seat on the Mardi Gras board.
The Labor party told the complainant that the personal information Peake used, including email addresses, had been supplied strictly for ALP campaigning, should have been destroyed after the election, and must not be used for any third-party purpose.
Peake is endorsed by Protect Mardi Gras, a faction formed to counter activist group Pride in Protest, which advocates excluding police, politicians whose records do not support LGBTQIA+ rights, and corporate sponsors from the annual Mardi Gras parade.
Pride in Protest question latest incident
A spokesperson for Pride in Protest said the Labor Party's dressing down of Peake raised concerns about Protect Mardi Gras' conduct during Mardi Gras' current board election.
"If the ALP is disciplining their own candidate, it raises genuine questions about the tactics of Protect Mardi Gras," the spokesperson said. "How low will Protect Mardi Gras stoop to chase votes?
"After seeing the ways Protect Mardi Gras have used their data during this election, it would be very understandable for Mardi Gras members to have concerns about their privacy."
In correspondence seen by Gay Sydney News, the complainant – who was not a Mardi Gras member at the time but has since signed up – first contacted Peake on October 19 asking how she had obtained his email address.
He received no answer.
The following morning, on October 20, he wrote again, saying he remained concerned that Peake had accessed his personal information without any relationship between them.
"I received your campaign email for the Mardi Gras board and was somewhat concerned that you had access to my personal information as I do not know you at all," he wrote.
He told her he had contacted Mardi Gras, which assured him it had not been the one to provide his personal information to her. "I can only assume that you have obtained my personal information through NSW Labor when you were a candidate for Wentworth," he said.
While noting political parties are exempt from the Privacy Act for certain activities, he told her: "I doubt that using the NSW Labor database for your Mardi Gras candidacy is an allowable use for my personal data…"
The complainant said he had already sought an explanation from Peake the day before but had not received a reply, warning: "If I do not receive an answer in the next little while I will be notifying the Privacy Commissioner."
After receiving his second email, Peake responded within minutes, confirming she continued to use the email list from her Labor campaign.
"I have a contact list which I continue to communicate with and it is the Wentworth list," she wrote. "I have had this since running for Labor during my campaign and continue to use it to keep in touch with members."
She said she regularly used the list for “communications about the campaign and also other activities I have been up to since” with its recipients and hoped to “remain engaged with them all moving forward into the next campaign”.
"If you would like to unsubscribe, I can do that for you," she added.
After receiving her response, the complainant emailed NSW Labor officials to complain. A NSW Labor representative confirmed to the complainant that the party had spoken to Peake and reiterated strict limits on how campaign data may be used.
The representative wrote that the party had reaffirmed "that the data provided for the purpose of campaigning on behalf of the ALP was to be used solely for that electoral context", that it "should have been destroyed once its intended purpose had concluded", and that "under no circumstances should it have been used for any third-party purposes".
'We regret that Savanna chose to use the data'
"We regret that Savanna chose to use the data in this way and we apologise for the misuse of your contact information," the representative wrote.
News of the latest incident comes shortly after a separate privacy concern involving Peake, in which a 20-year-old university student was outed to her family after receiving a Protect Mardi Gras flyer promoting Peake's board candidacy.
The material was sent to the student through a mechanism that allows Mardi Gras board candidates to access the membership register to send material to home addresses about their candidacy.
When the student began opening up the letter sent to her by Peake under the watchful eye of her mother, the student saw the words "Protect Mardi Gras" and tore it up, but said her mother later reassembled the fragments and realised it related to queer issues.
"Given that my family is homophobic, and have been suspicious of my sexuality since I argue against their homophobic discourse, the letter … has proven to them that I am doing something 'wrong' by being queer and being involved in queer communities," she told Star Observer.
She told GSN on Tuesday that "things have settled down with my family at the moment, and I’m not in any immediate physical danger".
Peake apologised at the Protect Mardi Gras campaign launch on Sunday, saying she was "deeply and sincerely sorry" and that the harm caused was never her intention.
The outing incident prompted Mardi Gras to review its handling of member information. Since then, it has updated its member sign-up form and given members the option to opt out of mail communications sent to their home addresses by board candidates.
Under the Corporations Act and Mardi Gras’ constitution, board candidates may apply to access the postal addresses of members for election-related mail-outs. Mardi Gras has said strict conditions apply, including a written explanation of how the data will be used, a signed privacy declaration and mandatory destruction of the password-protected file once the campaign is finished.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), speaking generally, noted that political parties and political representatives are exempt from the Privacy Act, but said it has long opposed the exemption.
Individuals who believe their privacy has been breached must first contact the organisation responsible before lodging a complaint with the OAIC.
Mardi Gras declined to comment on the latest matter involving Peake. It previously said it had received only a small number of complaints about election-related mail-outs.
A spokesperson for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), which oversights organisations like Mardi Gras, said charities are required to handle people's information responsibly and ensure their boards act with reasonable care, diligence and integrity.
The ACNC noted that charities must manage conflicts of interest appropriately and meet ongoing governance obligations to remain registered. "Anyone can raise a concern about a charity with the ACNC and we take all concerns seriously," the spokesperson said.
Editor’s note: Journalist Ben Grubb pays $50 annually for Mardi Gras membership to access discounts, including at retail stores and bars, but does not use the membership’s voting rights.
Ben Grubb is the founder and editor of Gay Sydney News, an independent publication covering LGBTQIA+ news. A journalist with more than 15 years' experience, he has reported and edited for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAToday, Brisbane Times, The Australian Financial Review, News.com.au, ZDNet, TelecomTimes and iTnews, primarily on the topic of technology. He previously hosted The Informer, a queer current affairs program on Melbourne’s JOY 94.9 radio station, and contributes to LGBTQIA+ media including Stun Magazine. Ben has also appeared as a technology commentator on Channel Ten's The Project, ABC RN’s Download This Show and commercial radio stations 2UE, 2GB and 6PR. Contact Ben: [email protected]
