THE Catholic Church's national abuse agency claimed it was a small business as a legal loophole to evade a complaint that it broke privacy laws.
The strategy worked, with the Australian Information Commissioner accepting that the Victorian branch of Towards Healing was exempt from privacy requirements, as a small business with an annual turnover of less than $3 million.
A victim of abuse, who does not want to be named, went to Towards Healing's Victorian office because he explicitly did not want Melbourne Response - the protocol used by the Melbourne archdiocese - to be involved, his lawyer, Paul Holdway, has told The Age.
But the Towards Healing office referred the complaint to Melbourne Response without his knowledge or consent.
''He felt absolutely devastated, invaded, angry. It was a psychological injury,'' Mr Holdway said.
''He felt he had been lied to. Anything like this triggers people back into the depression or whatever the ailment may be.''
Mr Holdway asked for an explanation, but never got a response. So in May 2010, the victim complained to the privacy commissioner. He got a reply that September, saying Towards Healing regarded the sharing as a proper use, not disclosure to a third party.
The victim disputed this, saying they were separate entities.
Then, in May 2011, the privacy commission, now renamed the Australian Information Commission, replied, saying that Towards Healing in Victoria claimed it was a small business with a turnover of less than $3 million and thus exempt under small business exceptions in the Privacy Act.
In other words, it was indeed a separate entity, but one that was exempt.
The victim replied that Towards Healing operated as a health service, which would remove the exemption, but this month the AIC decided Towards Healing was exempt and the complaint would not be investigated.
Mr Holdway said what annoyed him most was that church agencies claimed to be separate, ''but when it suits them they say, 'oh no, we are on the same team' ''.
Towards Healing's Victorian director, Kerry Buchecker, said the victim's complaint should have been made to the Melbourne archdiocese, and had been made to Towards Healing in error.
''The referral we made complied with our privacy policy, which the victim acknowledged in writing when the complaint was made.''