Office of the Privacy Commissioner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is an Australian Government agency created by the Privacy Act 1988. It is an independent regulator responsible for investigating complaints about breaches of the Information Privacy Principles (relating to Australian and Australian Capital Territory government agencies) or the National Privacy Principles (relating to private sector organisations including not for profit organisations).
The current Privacy Commissioner is Karen Curtis who was appointed in July 2004 for 5 years. The Commissioner is assisted by a Deputy Commissioner and an Assistant Commissioner.
The Office handles complaints about interferences with privacy and can open its own investigations. It also conducts audits of Australian and ACT government agencies, produces information sheets, guidelines (some of which are mandatory) and approves Privacy Codes. In addition the Office has a statutory right to comment on new Australian Government policy and legislative proposals eg; the Health and social services access card (Australia).

