Media Release: Justice Michael Kirby wins inaugural Australian Privacy Medal

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27 August 2008

High Court Judge, Michael Kirby, was tonight announced as the recipient of the inaugural Australian Privacy Medal.

"Justice Kirby has made an invaluable contribution over many years to enhancing not only Australians’ privacy rights, but also those of citizens across the globe," said Karen Curtis, the Australian Privacy Commissioner.

The announcement, at a gala dinner held in Sydney, was made by Ms Curtis and Senator the Hon John Faulkner, Special Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary.

"Having chaired the OECD Expert Group on the Protection of Privacy, Justice Kirby led the development of the 1980 OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and the Transborder Flows of Personal Data," Ms Curtis said.

"Those Guidelines are still the basis for privacy laws, not only in Australia, but in most developed nations in the world.

"Justice Kirby also chaired the OECD Expert Group on Security of Information Systems, whose work produced the 1992 OECD Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems.

"In his capacity as chair of the Australian Law Reform Commission, Justice Kirby produced two reports on privacy, which, with the OECD Guidelines, were critical to the development of the Australian Privacy Act.

"Subsequently, he has written and spoken about privacy, and continues to articulate privacy as an important right."

In addition to the Medal, the gala dinner also featured presentations to the winners of the Australian Privacy Awards.

These included: Medicare Australia (Grand Award), Telstra (Large Business Award), Australian Dental Association NSW Branch (Community & NGO Award), Child Support Agency (Symantec Government Award), and Data Solutions Australia (Microsoft Small-Medium Business Award).