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12 Feb 2008	We have put a very short introductory summary of NSW privacy law on the Publications and Links page on our website. It has been prepared by one of our senior staff and is useful for new staff and others who need an overview of NSW privacy law coverage.
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4 Jan 2008	It is with sadness that Privacy NSW farewells Mr John Dickie, who retired as Privacy Commissioner on 31 December 2007. John is an outstanding leader and a man of warmth, great tolerance and understanding. He did a superb job leading Privacy NSW over several years. John did a magnificent job in expanding the links between Privacy NSW and other state, national and international bodies. It is with pleasure that we await the new Commissioner Judge Ken Taylor who has been appointed for a five-year term. Pending the new Commissioner’s taking up office, I am acting as Privacy Commissioner and I take this opportunity to remind readers that our Office is now at Parramatta and our new telephone number is (02) 8688 8585. Philippa O’Dowd.
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4 Jan 2008	The 7 directions usually renewed at this time have been approved, made and placed on the website (see at the end of the list of PPIP Act, section 41 directions. Go via link titled "Exemptions" on your right). Some of these directions deal with most NSW government agencies.
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17 Dec 2007	Privacy NSW has provided its submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission on its Discussion Paper 72 Review of Australian Privacy Law. Our submission responds to the larger issues of structural reform to the privacy regulation landscape and the importation of the proposed Uniform Privacy Principles (UPPs) into state and territory privacy legislation. It also provides comment on the model for complaint-handling and on the extension of the Privacy Act to include information relating to deceased individuals. We also suggest that there should be binding rules under the Privacy Act for dealings with personal information relating to children and individuals who may lack capacity and for dealings with authorised representatives. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Australian Law Reform Commission on the extensive, thoughtful and progressive work it has achieved so far in reviewing Australian privacy law, and we look forward to the next iteration in this process which will hopefully lead to a future in which the Australian privacy patchwork is once and truly mended for the benefit of all.
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7 Dec 2007	Privacy Officer Training Workshop (Sydney) - 5th February This one-day Workshop is part of a national series of Privacy Officer Training Workshops and will provide comprehensive training for Privacy Officers in private sector organisations. The Workshop aims to equip participants with a detailed understanding of: privacy laws & their application to private sector organisations; how to identify & resolve privacy compliance issues. Participants will receive a Participant Handbook containing course materials. The Workshop will be presented by Jeremy Douglas-Stewart, Principal Consultant at Privacy Law Consulting Australia, and hosted by national law publisher, Presidian Legal Publications. For further details, including a course outline, see the event website. Date: Tuesday 5th February 2008 Event website: www.presidian.com.au/privacyworkshops.html Location: Waterfront Executive Offices, Level 46, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney, Australia
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4 Dec 2007	Is your HREC report overdue Human Research Ethics Committee’s (HREC) are reminded that HREC reports are to be provided to the NSW Privacy Commissioner on an annual basis under S4.8 of the Statutory Guidelines on Research of the Health Records Information Protection Act 2002 (HRIP Act) requires. The report should include those decisions a HREC has made in each financial year where it has applied the statutory guidelines on research. The reporting is "self reporting" and PNSW requires that reports be received by 31 August. A copy of the Statutory Guidelines can be found on the PNSW website at Lawlink > privacynsw > NSW Privacy Laws > Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002>Resources.The reporting document is part of the Guidelines. In order to be able to continue our monitoring and appraisal of this reporting scheme and finalise reporting details for 2006 – 2007 HRECs who have not supplied their report should send a copy, at the earliest possible convenience, to The Acting Privacy Commissioner, Privacy NSW, Mr John Dickie, Locked Bag 5111 Parramatta NSW 2124 or by email to privacy_nsw@agd.nsw.gov.au HRECs are also reminded that a report is to be completed even if there were no proposals to be reviewed and that any change to committee name or contact person should also be noted.
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16 Nov 2007	Privacy NSW is still having difficulty with its phone line for inquiries. It is suggested you contact us by email at privacy_nsw@agd.nsw.gov.au until further notice.
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14 Nov 2007	Our new Parramatta phone number is now operating New contact number is (02) 8688 8585. You can also emails us at: privacy_nsw@agd.nsw.gov.au
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14 Nov 2007	Urgent! Privacy's new enquiry line (02) 8688 8585 is not functioning yet. We have moved to our new address at Parramatta Justice Precinct, 160 Marsden Street, Parramatta. I suggest you email any inquiries to us using the email address: privacy_nsw@agd.nsw.gov.au until otherwise advised on this website. Please note calls to our old number (02) 9228 8585 cannot be regularly monitored. We apologise for the inconvenience. Philippa O'Dowd Acting Privacy Commissioner
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9 Nov 2007	Our Statistics and How We Calculate Them. We will be publishing our statistics for each quarter on the website. Details will be given of the number of complaints we handle, the written advices Privacy NSW provides, the internal reviews we monitor and the telephone / email enquiries we reply to. We will also publish the number of requests for exemption from privacy legislation which we negotiate. (Please note, we do not always accede to these requests. A decision on them is made by the Commissioner in the public interest). In addition we will publish performance indicators, showing how many complaints, written advices and internal reviews were handled by Privacy NSW within a year (our time standard). Method of Calculation: We calculate the number of complaints, written advices, internal reviews monitored and enquiries answered by extracting reports from our computer database: PRISM. These reports show the number of files opened per quarter for complaints, written advices and internal reviews. PRISM also keeps a record of the number of phone / email enquiries we received. We calculate the percentage of complaints, written advices and internal reviews which were finalised within a year (our time standard) by obtaining a report from PRISM of the details of the files which were closed within the quarter. We then examine how many of those files were closed within a year and express that as a percentage of all the files closed within the quarter. Note: if there is an audit of old files in a particular quarter, the number of files that were open for more than a year will be greater in that quarter. This will also lower the percentage of files that met the time standard in that quarter. Any inquiries about Privacy NSW’s statistics should be directed to Privacy Services Manager. For September Quarterly Statistics please see Quarterly Reports of Publication & Links page on our website.
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29 Oct 2007	Privacy NSW relocation to Parramatta From the 12 November, Privacy NSW and other business centres of the NSW Attorney General’s Department will be relocated in the new Parramatta Justice Precinct situated at the corners of George, Marsden and O'Connell Streets Parramatta. The Parramatta Court and Police station are both located in Marsden Street, and the Commonwealth Courts face George Street. The new premises includes administrative offices and a client reception. During the period 5-9 November 2007, Privacy will be packing for the move. From the 12 November clients should use the following contact numbers: Phone: (02) 8688 8585 Fax: (02) 8688 9660 Client reception opening hours: 9 am to 4 pm Business hours: 9 am to 5 pm Email: privacy_nsw@agd.nsw.gov.au Website: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/privacynsw Our new street address will be: 160 George Street Parramatta NSW 2124. Our new postal address will be: Locked Bag 5111 Parramatta NSW 2124
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20 Sept 2007	July 2007 Charging fees for access to personal information under the PPIP Act Public sector agencies are informed that in the view of the Crown Solicitor, the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP Act) does not provide for the charging of fees for access to personal information. S14 of the PPIP Act provides that a public sector agency that holds personal information must, at the request of the individual to whom the information relates and “without excessive delay or expense”, provide the individual with access to the information. PNSW has received advice from the NSW Crown Solicitor that: s14 should be read as “without excessive delay and without expense”; and it is a settled principle of common law that a public body or authority may not levy or otherwise impose a charge or fee on members of the public unless there is statutory authority or power for it to do so. In the light of this principle, no costs incurred by a public sector agency in complying with s.14 are capable of being passed onto or “charged to” the individual seeking the provision of access to information. Unless legally advised to the contrary, agencies should check their procedures and documentation to ensure that applicants are not incurring any expense for access to personal information. Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) (HRIP Act) does permit private and public sector agencies to charge a fee to cover the administrative costs of providing access (e.g. for copying or printing records). For health service providers in the public sector, the access fees and charges set out in DOH Information Bulletin IB2007_031 Health Records and Medical clinical Reports - Rates apply. Privacy NSW does however encourage organisations to provide access and amendment without charge. Note: Privacy NSW recently sent out a letter on this subject to local councils. That letter could have been better worded and a revised version can be reached via this link. As the revised version indicates, it is permissible for an agency to charge a fee or charge, if this is permitted by legislation. It may be that your agency is permitted to charge fees under other legislation apart from the PPIP Act. Agencies should, however take legal advice elsewhere, before charging for the provision of personal information under s.14 of PPIP Act.
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29 August 2007	Australian teenager wins International Privacy Competition Full details of the first prize winner and more information about the competition in the media relases section of this website. The winner, Ms Erica Hei-Yuan Chan and her parents will be the guests of honour at a Privacy Awareness Week celebration on August 30 where the guest speaker will be NSW Attorney General, Mr John Hatzistergos. The celebration will be jointly sponsored by the Australian Privacy Commissioner and the NSW Privacy Commissioner.
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10 August 2007	Privacy Awareness Week Privacy Awareness Week is an opportunity for you to think about how privacy affects you. It is an initiative of the following Privacy Commissioners throughout the Asia Pacific Region: * Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Australia * Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand * Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong * Korean Information Security Agency * Privacy Victoria * Privacy NSW * Office of the Information Commissioner, Northern Territory During Privacy Awareness Week you may want to find how your rights as a consumer are protected. For instance you might want to learn more about the HRIP Act and how it protects the health information of you and your family. You may also want to know how your credit history is maintained or how your on-line computer transactions are protected against hacking. If you want to learn more about your privacy rights as a consumer, go to the federal Privacy Commissioner's website at: http://www.privacy.gov.au/ or get a copy of your credit history from Veda Advantage at: http://www.vedaadvantage.com or review the on-line privacy policies of the organisations you do business with and check to see if they use encryption or on-line authentication services. If you are an employee of a NSW public sector agency or if you are a health service provider in NSW you may want to familiarise yourself with the Privacy & Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) (PPIP Act) and the Health Records Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) (HRIP Act). The privacy principles in those Acts regulate the way your agency deals with personal information and health information. Just how well your agency complies with those obligations could well be up to you. To learn more about the privacy principles go to the pages on Your Privacy and NSW Privacy Laws on this website. For more information go to http://www.privacyawarenessweek.org/paw/
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20 July 2007	A direction under section 41 of the PPIPA has been made in relation to Attorney General's Department (the Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages) participating with the Australian Tax Office in an Integrity of Identity Data Pilot. The details of the Pilot are in the direction which has been put onto this website. The direction has effect until the completion of the participation by the Registrar in the Pilot. You can access this document through this link.
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29 June 2007	The Guidelines on Disclosure of Information during Industrial Consultations (C2007-27), from the Premier’s Department, has been updated to include the HRIP Act in its discussion of the interaction of the NSW privacy legislation with the Industrial Relations legislation and the Occupational Health and Safety legislation. These guidelines are a valuable tool for determining what information can or cannot be disclosed in these circumstances. You can access this document through this link.
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20 Junde 2007	The Acting Privacy Commissioner has renewed the direction made under s41 of the PPIP Act relating to the Document Verification Service (the DVS). The renewed direction will operate from 1 July 2007 until the end of the project.
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17 May 2007	Do Not Call Register available The Do Not Call Register was recently introduced by the Australian Government. This register has been set up in response to increasing community concern about the growth in unsolicited telemarketing calls and allows you to reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls you receive. The register is managed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority ( ACMA) and once you register your home phone or mobile numbers, telemarketers are required, by law, to stop calling you. Telephone numbers can be registered only if they are used primarily for private and domestic purposes. Further information on the Do Not Call Register including application forms can be found at www.donotcall.gov.au
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10 May 2007	Privacy NSW to move to Parramatta In November this year, Privacy NSW will be relocating to the new $330 Million Parramatta Justice Precinct. The Precinct is a purpose built, state of the art building and is located on the corner of George, Marsden and O'Connell Streets. Privacy will be sharing the building with many of the business centres from the Attorney General's Department. As more definite dates become available, we shall be informing our clients and others who use our services of the new telephone numbers, and the correct street and email addresses.
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3 May 2007	International Privacy competition for students to mark Privacy Awareness Week Privacy Commissioners from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory have sponsored an international competition for secondary school students on issues surrounding privacy. Students will be competing for prizes which include a laptop computer and gift vouchers. The competition is designed to increase awareness among students of contemporary privacy issues and how this relates to them in the electronic age. The competition will allow entries in any written format including poems, , essays or a blog. The competition closes on 3 August and the winners will be announced in Privacy Awareness Week. This will occur from 26 August to 1 September this year. Further information about the competition and details about the terms and conditions can be found on the For the Media page.
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30 April 2007	The Acting Privacy Commissioner has made two directions under the PPIP and HRIP Acts relating to the Anti-Social Behaviour Pilot Project (the ASBP Project). These directions replace the directions relating to the Case Coordination Pilot Partnership Project, which came into effect on 26 September 2006. The directions involve a limited number of NSW government agencies (Schedule 1) in a limited number of locations (Schedule 2). The Background to the directions, the Objects of the ASBP Project and Operation of the Case Coordination Framework are in the introduction to the directions, which can be accessed through this link which leads to the website exemptions. (Once you have reached the description of the PPIP direction via the link, there is a further link to the HRIP directions.)
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13 April 2007	Public Meeting on Privacy and You The New South Wales Law Reform Commission held a public seminar on the 26 March 2007 on a person’s right to privacy as part of Law Week 2007 celebrations. All interested members of the public and legal profession were invited to attend. Find out more >>
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23 February 2007	Public Meeting on Privacy in Business The Australian Law Reform Commission and the New South Wales Law Reform Commission are holding a public meeting on 19 March as part of their review of privacy law in Australia. The theme of the meeting will be “ Is privacy good business ? Have your say.” It will consider such questions as: Do privacy laws cost your business time and money Should employee records be covered by the Privacy Act ( Cwlth) Are privacy laws stopping you doing business Should small business be subject to the same privacy rules as large business ? Does you business send personal information overseas? When should your business be able to use personal information collected for one purpose for another purpose such as direct marketing Both Commissions would like to hear from small, medium and large businesses and employees about where privacy laws are working well and where they could be improved. As part of the inquiry, the ALRC and the NSWLRC will be making recommendations that take into account how privacy laws contribute to compliance burden. The meeting will be held as the Corinthian Room of the Masonic Centre at 66 Goulburn Street from 6 to 7.30 pm. Further information is available from the ALRC website or the following weblink: http://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiries/current/privacy/syd.htm
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19 February 2007	Privacy NSW has launched a submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission in response to the Issue Paper circulated by the ALRC. The submission is now in the "Publications and Links" section.
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11 January 2007	The full text of the 7 directions, which are renewed annually under the PPIP Act, is now available on the website.
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8 January 2007	The 3 sector wide directions made under section 41 of the PPIP Act have been extended to 31 December 2007. So have the other 4 directions usually renewed at the same time, namely the one relating to the NCIS, the Victims of Crime, Human Services agencies and DADHC. There have been a small number of additions and deletions from the Schedules. These were made at the request of the agencies involved and details may be obtained by ringing the Privacy Services Manager on 9228 8585. The full text of the new directions will be on the website by Wednesday, 10 January 2007.
5 Dec 2006	Local Councils placing personal information on Development Applications etc on the Internet Privacy NSW is aware that there are differing legal views as to whether Local Councils are able to put Development Applications and associated materials on the Internet. In those circumstances, I strongly advise Local Councils to take legal advice before placing such material on the Internet, and suggest it would be more prudent not to do so. In addition, if such materials are placed on the Internet via a website, I suggest Councils remove or black out personal information such as signatures and names/addresses of third parties. The appearance of signatures etc on the Internet could assist identity fraud. Privacy NSW has had a number of formal and informal complaints on this subject. It is suggested that members of the public, who want personal information of this kind removed by a Council, approach the Council in writing (we are aware that Councils have removed material when asked). If this does not work, members of the public can ask the Council to undertake an internal review about the matter under the PPIP Act or make a complaint to Privacy NSW (Ph: 02 9228 8585). Information about making a privacy complaint is available on this website. Philippa O'Dowd Acting Privacy Commissioner
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22 Nov 2006	The Acting Privacy Commissioner will be recommending to the Attorney General the renewal of all those sector-wide and other directions which expire on 30th December. It is not necessary to contact Privacy NSW and request the directions be renewed. As announced by the Acting Commissioner at a recent FOI/Privacy Contact officers meeting, Privacy NSW will be recommending to the NSWLRC ,which is conducting a reference about privacy issues, that the three sector-wide exemptions/directions be enshrined in legislation so they do not have to be constantly renewed.
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22 Nov 2006	The 28th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners recently held in London issued a Communique dealing with surveillance and other matters. The Acting Privacy Commissioner,Philippa O'Dowd attended the conference.She also attended the 26th Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities ( APPA ) Conference in Hong Kong.
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15 Nov 2006	The Acting Privacy Commissioner has made two new limited directions under the PPIP and HRIP Acts concerning the South Australian Commission of Inquiry Into Children in State Care. They pertain only to the incidental disclosure and interstate transfer of personal and health information belonging to third parties, where the Department of Community Services file has been requested by the South Australian Commissioner heading the inquiry, and the party to whom the file belongs has given consent. A more detailed Background appears in the introduction to the directions, which can be accessed through this link which leads to the website exemptions. (Once you have reached the description of the PPIP direction via the link, there is a further link to the HRIP direction.)
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15 Nov 2006	The Privacy NSW Annual Report 2005-06 has been tabled in Parliament. The Report can be downloaded from our Publications page.
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9 Nov 2006	The PPIP Act Training Program is now online. We will be contacting Privacy Contact Officers from NSW government departments and local councils with access details in the near future.
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6 Nov 2006	The Acting Privacy Commissioner has revised the sector-wide direction made under the PPIP Act for the exchange of information for investigative purposes. Section 4A has been added to allow for an agency to assist another agency exercising investigative functions or conducting a lawful investigation.
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13 Oct 2006	A link to Guidelines on Disclosure of Information during Industrial Consultations, from the Premier’s Department, has been added to our website under Publications and Links. These guidelines discuss the interaction between the requirements of the PPIP Act in relation to Industrial Relations legislation and Occupational Health and Safety legislation, and are useful for determining what information can or cannot be disclosed in these circumstances.
26 Sept 2006	The Acting Privacy Commissioner has made two directions under the PPIP and HRIP Acts relating to the Case Coordination Partnership Project. The directions involve a limited number of NSW government agencies (Schedule 1) in a limited number of locations (Schedule 2). The Background to the directions, the Objects of the CCP Project and Operation of the Case Coordination Framework are in the introduction to the directions, which can be accessed through this link which leads to the website exemptions. (Once you have reached the description of the PPIP direction via the link, there is a further link to the HRIP direction.)
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19 Sept 2006	Two additions to the Privacy Code of Practice (General) 2003 were gazetted on Friday 15 September 2006. One deals with the operations of the Department of Corrective Services and the other with those of the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care. The new codes are Part 5 and 6 of the Privacy Code of Practice (General) 2003 on Parliamentary Counsel's website at: www.legislation.nsw.gov.au
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22 August 2006	Next Tuesday, 29 August 2006 will see the launch of Privacy Awareness Week by the Federal Attorney General, the Hon Philip Ruddock. Privacy NSW will launch some initiatives also to mark this important week.
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16 August 2006	The Privacy Services Manager, Philippa O'Dowd attended the Ark Group Conference, "eHealth: Transforming the Healthcare Landscape". Her paper "Debating Privacy and its Impact on your Systems" is in the "Publications and Links" section or here.
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14 August 2006	A new case note has been added to the NSW Tribunal Cases on the Privacy Case Law Index (go in under "Case Law" from the Index at left). It is for SW v Forests NSW [2006] NSWADT 74. Further case notes will be added in the near future.
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10 August 2006	Privacy Awareness Week 2006 is from 27 August to 2 September. The theme for the week is "Don't leave privacy to chance" and a promotional poster has been developed in conjunction with other privacy agencies in Australia. Find out more >>
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4 July 2006	The exemption under the PPIP Act relating to the Document Verification Service has been renewed and will now expire on 30 June 2007.
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11 April 2006	The Attorney General, Mr Bob Debus, has asked the Law Reform Commission to inquire into whether existing legislation in NSW provides an effective framework for the protection of the privacy of an individual. He has asked the LRC to liaise with the Australian Law Reform Commission, which is reviewing the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as well as other relevant Commonwealth, State and Territory agencies. Further information and terms of reference.
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6 Feb 2006	Fact Sheet No. 6 "Local government records and the 'public interest' test" has been removed from the website for revision. This is part of an on-going process of revising and updating the website.
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1 Feb 2006	The 7 directions renewed on 31 December 2005 are available on our website. Go in via “NSW Privacy Laws” to the link to “Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act” and then to the link “Exemptions to the PPIP Act”. Then follow links to the specific direction you require. We apologise for the delay. Please ring Philippa O’Dowd, Privacy Services Manager on 9228 8585 if you have an inquiry about the directions. Privacy NSW is responding in due course to all suggestions and correspondence relating to the directions. There are no changes to the wording of the directions apart from the title to the direction on Indirect Collection from Third Parties by Human Service Agencies. The title has been altered to reflect better the content of the direction. After extensive consultation, a couple of agencies have been added to the sector-wide directions and a couple removed. These changes were at the request of the agencies concerned and the additions were made by the Acting Commissioner in the exercise of his public interest discretion (section 41(3) of the PPIP Act). For details, contact Philippa O’Dowd on 9228 8585.
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31 Jan 2006	The 7 directions will be available on our website tomorrow 1 February 2006.
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25 Nov 2005	Please note Mac OS X and Safari users: For Mac OS X, the default browser is Safari. If you experience problems accessing forms and documents on Lawlink websites using Safari as your Web browser, you may need to use an alternative browser, for example Internet Explorer (IE) or Firefox.
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15 Nov 2005	The Privacy NSW Annual Report has been tabled in Parliament. The Report can be downloaded from our Publications page.
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7 Nov 2005	We have been officially informed that, in future, criminal records will only be expunged as a result of a court order.
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29 Sept 2005	The recently published paper "How to Handle Your Internal Reviews" has been added to our website. This document can also be found under "Publications and Links" and "Internal Reviews"
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26 Sept 2005	The Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 will commence on 7 October 2005. The Act replaces the Workplace Video Surveillance Act and will introduce significant changes in regard to computer monitoring and tracking. The Attorney General's Department has produced a Short Guide to assist organisations to comply with the Act.
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9 Sept 2005	Privacy NSW’s Submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Discussion Paper “Discrimination in Employment on the Basis of Criminal Records”: Further information about the Discussion Paper can be found on the HREOC website: http://www.hreoc.gov.au/human_rights/criminalrecord
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5 Sept 2005	Part 4 of the Privacy Code of Practice (General) 2003 dealing with Human Services was made and commenced on 1 July 2005. It can be found by opening the Code of Practice (General) 2003. A similar Code dealing with Human Services was also made under the HRIP Act and can be found under "Extemptions to the HRIP Act".
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31 Aug 2005	Under HRIPA, Human Research Ethics Committees are required to provide a report to the NSW Privacy Commissioner after 30 June each year. As this is the first year of reporting, the Acting Privacy Commissioner has decided HRECs may have till 31st December 2005 to provide their report. In future years, 30 September will be the deadline.
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27 Jan 2005	Privacy NSW has moved to the Goodsell Building in Chifley Square. Our new phone number is (02) 9228 8585 and the address is Goodselll Building, 8-12 Chifley Square, Sydney. The move is still in progress, so please be patient.
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31 Dec 2004	A "Word" version of the Statutory Guidelines have been added to our website. They are next to the "PDF" versions (see next item below).
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30 Dec 2004	Statutory Guidelines under the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 have been approved by the Minister of Health and now appear in PDF form on the website.
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20 Oct 2004	HRIPA Training has (unfortunately) been deferred. We hope to resume it, as soon as Privacy NSW has sufficient staff. Please contact Privacy NSW at privacy_nsw@agd.nsw.gov.au to put your name down for training when it becomes available.
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1 Oct 2004	The Handbook to Health Privacy is now accessible in a PDF format. We invite you to access the Handbook and provide any feedback to us prior to the end of October 2004.
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1 Sept 2004	The Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 commences today, as proclaimed by the Minister for Health.
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1 Sept 2004	The Handbook to Health Privacy is now accessible. It is the plain English guide to the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. We invite you to access the Handbook and to provide any feedback to us.
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24 June 2004	We have published our submission to the Attorney General's Department on the five-year review of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1988.
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18 June 2004	Welcome to our new-look website! You may need to reset any pages you had bookmarked as "favourites".
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16 June 2004	The Minister for Health has stated that the Health Records & Information Privacy Act will commence on 1 September 2004.
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10 June 2004	Acting Commissioner John Dickie has launched the training program on the Health Records & Information Privacy Act.
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10 May 2004	We have published a new User Manual: The tape recording of council meetings [note: this document was removed in February 2006 because the information it provided has been superceded by subsequent case law at the Administrative Decisions Tribunal]
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5 May 2004	Download two new information sheets on the Health Records and Information Privacy Act.
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4 May 2004	Privacy NSW has made two new submissions to the Australian Government Discussion Paper on Information Privacy and Employee Records; and on the Review of the Mental Health Act 1990.
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4 May 2004	Three new Privacy Essentials are on-line: Number 2 - How to prepare for the HRIP Act Number 3 - Checklist - Identifying privacy issues early Number 4 - Exemptions matrix
28 April 2004	New Fact Sheet now available on Public registers and the Internet.
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6 April 2004	Privacy NSW has made two new submissions: to the review of the State Records Act and to the Passports Act 1938 (Cth).
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5 April 2004	The NSW Premier's Department has issued a guideline for compliance with the PPIP Act in the course of industrial relations consultations about OH&S.
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26 March 2004	In a judgment on 10 March 2004, the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW found an Area Health Service failed to comply with the Workplace Video Surveillance Act. Four breaches were identified.
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24 March 2004	New Fact Sheet now available for Local government: Local government records and the 'public interest' test.
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12 March 2004	The latest edition of our newsletter is now on-line. Download a copy of Need to Know, March-May 2004 edition.
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12 March 2004	New translated Community Language Privacy Notice for public sector agencies
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12 March 2004	Privacy NSW Annual Report 2002-03 is now on-line.
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19 Februrary 2004	Four new Case Notes from ADT decisions are now on-line: GR v Department of Housing, GA v DET & Police, KD v Medical Board and JD v NSW Health.
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11 February 2004	Presentation by the Deputy Privacy Commissioner on Privacy and records management in a digital age
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9 February 2004	Submission by Privacy NSW to the Office of Fair Trading in relation to the proposed Property, Stock and Business Agents Amendment (Tenancy Databases Regulation 2004)
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6 February 2004	The new best practice guide Privacy and people with decision-making disabilities is now on-line.
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21 January 2004	Two new Fact Sheets are now available on the Health Privacy Principles (Fact Sheet 4 & 5).
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20 January 2004	New Privacy NSW submission on the public issues paper Residential Tenancy Database.
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15 January 2004	Seven new.section 41 Directions have been made and are now on-line.