Site Changes

On 1 November 2010 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a new website established at www.oaic.gov.au.

Note 1: Major changes to the Privacy Act 1988 will come into effect in March 2014. Agencies, businesses and not for profits need to start preparing for these changes. For more information go to our privacy law reform page at www.oaic.gov.au
Note 2: From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date. For new privacy content visit the www.oaic.gov.au website.

How can I prove to an organisation that my personal information is incorrect?

Generally you will need to prove to the organisation that it is more likely than not that the information it holds about you is incorrect.

There are many different ways that you can prove that information held about you is not accurate, complete and up-to-date. In some cases, you may be able to establish that your information is incorrect simply by drawing attention to the information and explaining an inconsistency or problem with it.

For example, an individual may say to their bank 'I think you hold incorrect information about me because you sent me a loan offer for customers with a $50,000 minimum balance, but I don't have that much.'

In other cases you may need to supply supporting information, such as letters, receipts, bank statements, diary notes, medical records, photographs, testimonies of a trusted third party and so on.

The extent to which you will need to establish that the information about you is incorrect will depend on the type of information you wish to have corrected. If an organisation has part of your name or address wrong, it could be as easy as proving your identity and current address.

In many cases, organisations will be happy to update or correct details because it is in their interests to have good quality customer data.

However sometimes the information you wish to correct is more contentious. Perhaps the organisation claims you have an outstanding account that you maintain has been paid. Or perhaps you have been refused an insurance claim or a tenancy based on evidence you think is inaccurate.

In these cases, you will probably need to provide more supporting material. If you paid the bill can you provide a receipt or a copy of your bank statement to prove you paid it? Is there some documentation you can supply to show that the reason for refusing the tenancy is based on inaccurate, incomplete or outdated information? Can you provide a medical certificate, letter from your employer, photograph or police report to support your claim for insurance?

These pieces of supporting material will help you establish to the organisation that the information is in need of correction.