Privacy and the Public Sector - Government

Australian and ACT government agencies must comply with 11 Information Privacy Principles which are set out at section 14 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). These are based on the 1980 OECD guidelines (Download in Word  or PDF) governing the protection of privacy and transborder flows of personal data.

They must also comply with the tax file number guidelines (Download in Word or PDF) issued under section 17 of the Privacy Act and the spent convictions scheme as provided for by the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

The Australian Taxation Office and assistance agencies must comply with the Data-matching Program (Assistance and Tax) Act 1990 (Cth) and guidelines issued by the Privacy Commissioner under the Act to govern the conduct of data-matching using tax file numbers.

Medicare Australia and the Department of Health and Ageing are bound by the Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Programs privacy guidelines (Download in Word  or PDF).

Each year Australian and Act government agencies must also maintain a record setting out the nature of the various types of records of personal information kept by the agency and related details in a Personal Information Digest.

Where actions breach the Privacy Act, but it is in the public interest for these actions to occur, Australian and Act government agencies may apply to the Privacy Commissioner for public interest determinations.

The Privacy Commissioner also has power under the Privacy Act 1988 to audit Australian and ACT government agencies. To help promote good privacy practices, the Privacy Commissioner publishes the finalised reports of some of those audits.

Australian and ACT government agencies are also affected by privacy rules set out in other laws, including secrecy provisions in their own legislation.

Each Australian and ACT agency is expected to appoint a Privacy Contact Officer (PCO). PCOs meet regularly; see information on support and guidance for PCOs on the PCO pages and join the Government PCO Network.

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