Information about your personal relationships and sexual orientation
Information about your health and sexuality

*Note: The sections below are under review. For more information or legal help please contact the Inner City Legal Centre.

Information about your personal relationships and sexual orientation
In general, your sexuality and your relationships are your own business. In most situations, for example if you are applying for a job, you cannot be required to disclose details about your sexual relationships or your sexual orientation. Forcing you to provide this information could be unlawful discrimination.

However, there are some exceptions. For example, insurance companies may be able to discriminate on grounds of age, sex and/or disability when deciding whether to provide you with insurance if such discrimination is based on reasonable data . If you are applying for life insurance, you may be required to answer questions about your health, history and activities (including your sexual relationships), so the insurer can assess the risk involved. They may also ask similar questions of your partner.


Information about your health and sexuality
There are laws that protect the confidentiality of information about your health and sexuality. The Privacy and Personal Information and Protection Act 1998 safeguards all personal information held by NSW government agencies, particularly information about health and sexuality and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 protects the privacy of a person’s health information held in both public and private sectors.

In New South Wales, the confidentiality of people who are HIV positive (or who have been tested for HIV) is protected by the Public Health Act 1991 (NSW) which makes it an offence to disclose a person's HIV status. However, you are required to disclose your HIV status in certain situations, for example if you are giving blood, joining the armed forces, or applying for certain types of insurance. If you are HIV positive, you are legally required to tell your prospective partner before having sex (Public Health Act).

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