Site Changes

On 1 November 2010 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and a new website established at www.oaic.gov.au.

Note 1: Major changes to the Privacy Act 1988 will come into effect in March 2014. Agencies, businesses and not for profits need to start preparing for these changes. For more information go to our privacy law reform page at www.oaic.gov.au
Note 2: From 12 March 2013 content is no longer being added to, or amended, on this site, consequently some information may be out of date. For new privacy content visit the www.oaic.gov.au website.

Types

Topic(s): Corporate information

Media Release: Privacy Commissioner calls for more recognition of good privacy practices

06 May 2009

The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has called for more recognition for businesses, community organisations and government agencies for their privacy initiatives, and has urged them to nominate for the Australian Privacy Awards.

"Australian businesses and agencies do not receive enough recognition for all that they do in protecting the privacy of their customers", Ms Curtis said.

"Often, all we hear about is when things go wrong, but there is also a lot of good privacy work being done.

"So many businesses and agencies both meet and exceed their privacy obligations and they should be rewarded for their positive contributions to making Australia a place in which privacy is respected.

"Now in its second year, the Australian Privacy Awards program is an important way of recognising and rewarding businesses and agencies, and I encourage them to nominate."

The Australian Privacy Awards and the Australian Privacy Medal were launched today by the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, the winner of the 2008 Australian Privacy Medal, at a corporate luncheon in Sydney.

The Australian Privacy Awards offers awards in four categories, with a Grand Award presented to the overall winner:

Large Business Award - for businesses with 100+ staff.
Small-medium Business Award - for less than 100 staff.
Community and NGO Award - for not-for-profit organisations.
Symantec Government Award - for government agencies.

Last year's Awards winners include: Medicare Australia, Telstra Corporation, Data Solutions Australia, the Australian Dental Association NSW Branch, and the Child Support Agency.

The Australian Privacy Medal will be presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to advancing privacy in Australia.

The deadline for nominations is 6 August 2009. The presentation to winners will take place at a gala dinner in November.

The Awards are sponsored by: Symantec (Major Sponsor), Clayton Utz (Executive Sponsor), Microsoft (Sponsor), and the Child Support Agency (Sponsor).

For further information or to nominate, visit http://www.privacy.gov.au/news/awards/.