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Public Interest Determinations

Part VI of the Privacy Act gives the Privacy Commissioner the power to determine that an act or practice of an Australian or ACT Government agency, or a private sector organisation, which may constitute a breach of an Information Privacy Principle, a National Privacy Principle or an approved privacy code, shall be regarded as not breaching that principle or approved code for the purposes of the Act.

The power for the Privacy Commissioner to issue Public Interest Determinations (PIDs) in relation to applications by Australian and ACT Government agencies has existed for some years. The Privacy Commissioner's power to issue determinations in relation to private sector organisations came into effect with the amendments to the Privacy Act in December 2001. These amendments also give the Privacy Commissioner the power to make a Temporary Public Interest Determination (TPID), in limited circumstances, where an application for a PID contains matters of an urgent nature.

 

Register of Public Interest Determinations

The listing of Public Interest Determinations and Temporary Public Interest Determinations below constitutes the Register of Determinations which the Privacy Commissioner is required to keep in accordance with Section 80E of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Determinations no longer in operation are found in the Publications Archive section of this website.

  • Public Interest Determination 1 (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosure by the Director of Public Prosecutions to the Victorian Mental Health Board Issued 14 August 1990, Gazette 14 December 1991

  • Public Interest Determination 2 (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosure by the Department of Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs to the Office of the Awards and National Symbols Issued 16 July 1990, Gazette 14 December 1991
  • Public Interest Determination 3A (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosure by the Director of Public Prosecutions to statutory disciplinary or regulatory bodies Issued 22 August 1991, Gazette 14 December 1991
  • Public Interest Determination 4 (Download in HTML PDF) Disclosure by the Australian Federal Police to an individual or organisation directly affected by an incident or responsible for the management or resolution of insurance claims or civil litigation Issued 29 April 1991, Gazette 14 December 1991
  • Public Interest Determination 5 (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosure by the Australian Federal Police to the Australian Institute of Criminology Issued 29 April 1991, Gazette 14 December 1991
  • Public Interest Determination Application No 6 (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosure by the Australian Telecommunications Corporation to law enforcement agencies (reasons for dismissal of application for a PID) Issued 22 August 1991
  • Public Interest Determination 7 (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosures by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of personal information of Australians overseas to their next of kin in certain limited circumstances Issued 21 October 1997, Gazette 19 December 1997.
  • Public Interest Determination 7A (Download in HTML, PDF) A determination amending Public Interest Determination Number 7 Issued 7 January 1999, Gazette 17 March 1999.
    • Reasons for Public Interest Determination 7A - Download in HTML, PDF
  • Public Interest Determination 8 (Download in HTML, PDF) Disclosure of personal information contained in certain CDPP files that relate to serious incidences of fraud, dishonesty and deception to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) for research purposes. Issued 22 March 2002, Gazette 1 May 2002, Effective 26 August 2002.
  • Public Interest Determination 9A (No longer in force - see Publications Archive)
  • Public Interest Determination 10 (Download in HTML, PDF) Determination (replacing Public Interest Determination 9, which is no longer in force) to exempt providers of health services in certain circumstances from complying with NPP 10.1.  Issued 6 December 2007, Effective 11 December 2007.
  • Public Interest Determination 10A (Download in HTML, PDF) Determination (replacing Public Interest Determination 9A, which is no longer in force) giving general effect to PID 10.  Issued 6 December 2007, Effective 11 December 2007.
    • Explanatory statement - Download in HTML, PDF

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Register of Temporary Public Interest Determinations

Temporary Public Interest Determination 2010-1

Disclosure by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to allow collation of victims of crime statistics involving student visa holders for research purposes:

Temporary Public Interest Determination 2009-1 and Determination 2009-1A

Collection and use of contact details of genetic relatives to enable disclosure of genetic information:

Temporary Public Interest Determinations (TPIDs) that are no longer current can be found in the Publications Archive section of this website.

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Public Interest Determination Procedure Guidelines

The Privacy Commissioner has issued Public Interest Determination Procedure Guidelines to assist Australian and ACT public sector agencies and private sector organisations who are considering, or making, applications for a Public Interest Determination (PID) or a Temporary Public Interest Determination (TPID) under the Privacy Act. Following the amendments to the Privacy Act, which commenced in December 2001, the Office reviewed, consulted upon and revised these guidelines. The guidelines now take account of the new provisions in the Privacy Act in relation to PIDs and TPIDs. For those considering making an application for a PID or a TPID, the Office strongly encourages them, whether an Australian/ACT Government agency or a private sector organisation, to discuss the matter with our Office in the first instance. The revised guidelines, dated November 2002 are available in PDF. Note: The previous Guidelines have been placed on the Archives page.

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Notices of current applications for Public Interest Determinations

April 2010: Announcement - Notice of Receipt of Application for a Public Interest Determination under the Privacy Act 1988

The Privacy Commissioner has received an application from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (the Department) for a Public Interest Determination (PID) under section 73 of the Privacy Act 1988.

The application concerns the disclosure of a limited set of specific information about student visa holders to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and all police jurisdictions in Australia for the purposes of assisting the AIC in compiling a report on the victimisation rate for student visa holders.

The Privacy Commissioner is considering the application for a PID and whether a Temporary Public Interest Determination should be made in accordance with Part VI of the Privacy Act.

Update: The Privacy Commissioner made a Temporary Public Interest determination in relation to this matter (see above).

July 2009: The Privacy Commissioner received an application from a neurologist working in private practice, for a public interest determination to be issued under section 72 of the Privacy Act. The applicant requested that the application receive urgent attention. The application concerns the collection or (secondary) use of the contact details of a patient’s genetic relative, to inform the relative about the patient’s genetic information for the relative’s own health.

The Privacy Commissioner made two Temporary Public Interest Determinations in December 2009 in relation to this application (see above).

The Temporary Public Interest Determinations expire on 14 December 2010 and the Privacy Commissioner is currently considering whether to make longer term Public Interest Determinations.

 

Note on new procedures for when a PID comes into effect

As a result of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (Cth), any public interest determinations come into effect on the day specified in the determination or, if not specified, on the day following registration on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments, rather than at the end of the 15-day disallowance period as described at paragraphs 5.5-5.6 of the Office's PID Guidelines (revised November 2002).

By way of explanation, section 80(2) of the Privacy Act purports to vary the effect of section 48 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.  The effect of s 80(2) has, in the past, been that PIDs have only come into effect when the disallowance period passes.  However, when the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 was enacted, section 48 of the Acts Interpretations Act was repealed.  As section 80(2) is dependent on section 48 of the Acts Interpretations Act, the former section does not have any effect.  The Office is currently revising its PID Guidelines to reflect this change.  However, the determinations would still be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny and the disallowance process.

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