23 April 2009

In the lead up to Privacy Awareness Week (3-9 May 2009), the Australian Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, is encouraging all Australians to learn more about their privacy rights.

"Unfortunately, many Australians are not aware of the rights that the Privacy Act gives them," Ms Curtis said.

"People should know their privacy rights and ensure they receive the standard of privacy protections they are entitled to.

"For example, not everyone realises they may not need to provide all types of personal information to an organisation when asked for it. Organisations are only allowed to collect personal information they specifically require for their functions or operations.

"They are also obliged to tell you what they are planning to do with the information they collect, and they can only use it for the purposes for which it was collected."

Ms Curtis said that, generally, there was a good level of compliance with the Privacy Act by organisations, but people shouldn't hesitate asking organisations any questions they have on how their personal information will be handled.

"I encourage all Australians to think about their privacy rights and to contact an organisation if they believe it has breached their privacy," she said.

"If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the organisation, or if the organisation doesn't respond to your complaint, you can contact my Office for advice."

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner's Enquiries Line is 1300 363 992. If your first language is not English you can use an interpreter from the Translating and Interpreting Service (phone 131 450) to assist communication with us.

The Office's website is www.privacy.gov.au. It contains helpful information in Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese.