The fishing industry calls it bycatch: the unlucky creatures that are snared in nets and hauled in as unwanted extras when trawling for a target species.

Having just hooked Opposition Leader Matthew Guy with damaging new details about the Ventnor zoning debacle, the Andrews government was forced to confront the muck of its own bycatch on Thursday.

Academics and lawyers who were just passing through the planning mess six or seven years ago have this week had their personal information, including phone numbers, addresses and legal and financial affairs, published online.

The farmland near Ventnor on Phillip Island that was rezoned by former planning minister Matthew Guy. Credit:Eddie Jim

It is a remarkable breach of privacy by the Parliament, initiated by the Andrews government out of spite when it used its majority in the lower house to order the production of confidential documents from the former Baillieu government several months ago.