The Privacy Act says that if an individual is able to establish that the information about them is incorrect, the organisation must take reasonable steps to correct the information so that it is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

What are reasonable steps will depend on the circumstances. If leaving in the inaccuracies is likely to have adverse consequences for you, then it will generally be reasonable for the organisation to correct the information.

However, if the information forms part of a report that has been printed, it may be unreasonable to correct the mistake and reprint the report.

Similarly, if the inaccuracy appeared in the minutes of a meeting, it might be contrary to the organisation's practices to change the minutes and instead they may choose to table a correction at the next meeting.

If the information is not likely to be used again, it could be unreasonable for an organisation to correct the information. However, under the Privacy Act organisations have to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information that is no longer needed.

If you think an organisation hasn't taken reasonable steps to correct your personal information you should complain to the organisation explaining the problem and how you would like them to fix it. If they don't adequately resolve your complaint within a reasonable period of time, you can complain to our Office.

For more information on correction of personal information see our revised Information Sheet 4 - NPP 6 Access and Correction