10 May 2006

The Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, welcomed the Government's announcement in the Budget that her Office would receive an increase in funding of approximately $8.1m over four years.

"This increase in resources will allow my Office to be further involved in key issues impacting on the privacy of the community", said the Commissioner.

"The additional funds will enable my Office to:

• ensure that privacy complaints are being handled in the most efficient and effective manner;
• respond to calls from business and industry for greater assistance in meeting their obligations under the Privacy Act; and
• respond to government requests for high level privacy advice in the development of new policy initiatives", said Ms Curtis.

"When I undertook the review of the private sector provisions of the Privacy Act, many businesses were calling for greater assistance to help them meet their responsibilities under the Act. This funding will allow my Office to work closely with business and consumer representatives to develop educational material to assist organisations and individuals to better understand their rights and responsibilities under the Privacy Act", said the Commissioner.

"One of our first priorities will be to ensure that our complaints handling systems and practices are working well and that people's complaints are handled in a timely and effective way. There have been some delays in responding to complaints, but I am confident that with this additional funding we will be able to improve our turnaround times and reduce the current backlog".

"An important function of the Office is to provide advice to government on the privacy impact of new policy initiatives. The additional funding will allow my Office to be involved in key government initiatives such as the development of the Document Verification Service which was also announced as part of the Budget".

"I look forward to working closely with businesses, consumer representatives and the Government as we undertake these important functions".