11 August 2008

The Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has welcomed the release of the final report of the privacy law review undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission over the past two years.

"The report is a valuable contribution to assist the Government develop its approach to the reform of Australia's privacy regime," Ms Curtis said.

Ms Curtis highlighted three key proposals in the report as critical to privacy reform:

• 1. a unified set of privacy principles for the public and private sectors
• 2. national consistency in privacy law across all levels of government
• 3. keeping the Privacy Act technologically neutral, to ensure its ongoing relevance.

"My Office strongly supports these three key elements which, we believe, are necessary to ensure Australia's privacy law meets the challenges of the years ahead," Ms Curtis said.

Ms Curtis also voiced support for the introduction of mandatory data breach notification to individuals where there is a real risk of serious harm, and for a statutory cause of action for privacy breaches.

Ms Curtis said her Office would be advising Government on its assessment of the report's recommendations.

Ms Curtis believes a staged response by Government to the 295 recommendations in the report is a sensible approach.

"The Government's commitment to prioritise and work on a unified set of privacy principles, as well as new health and credit regulations, within the next 18 months is welcome," said Ms Curtis.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner's submissions to the ALRC's privacy law review appear at www.privacy.gov.au/law/reform/.