The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (the Office) is an independent statutory body responsible for promoting an Australian culture that respects privacy. The Office currently has responsibilities under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) (Privacy Act) for the protection of individuals' personal information.
These responsibilities broadened substantially on 21st December 2001 when the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2001 (Cwlth) commenced. The Act extends the Privacy Act 1988 to the private sector, thus requiring many private sector organisations to comply with the National Privacy Principles which set standards for the handling of personal information. In addition, the Office was granted powers of enforcement through a complaints based system, with the power to award compensation to injured parties. During the 2003-2004 financial year, the Office received 1276 complaints, and 20,207 hotline enquiries1.
In January 2001 the Office commissioned Roy Morgan Research to undertake research into community, business and government agency attitudes towards privacy.
In January 2004, the Office again commissioned Roy Morgan Research to complete another research study, which substantially replicated the 2001 community study. Separate surveys of private sector organisations and government agencies were not included in the 2004 survey. This report details the findings of the 2004 study, and where appropriate, comparisons are made with the results obtained in 2001 and 1994.
The Office has committed to having a process for evaluating the social impacts of its activities, and to broadly reflect public opinion. This research project is designed to help the Office gauge public opinion. Broadly, the objectives of the survey involved:
1 Source: The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner website www.privacy.gov.au/about/complaints/index_print.html
^top : Last Updated : 27 October 2004