Privacy NSW is the Office of the NSW Privacy Commissioner. Our aim is to protect and promote privacy rights in NSW. More>>
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What's New
24 June 2008
17 June 2008 | Our 2006 - 07 Annual Report is now available on the website.To view the Report, please go to the Publications and Links page on this website.
Privacy Awareness Week is running from 24 - 30 August 2008. This year the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA) are running an international privacy competition for secondary school students. To enter, students are encouraged to create and submit a two minute video about privacy and what it means to them.
For more information about Privacy Awareness Week go to the website: www.privacyawarenessweek.org
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| 6 May 2008 | We have uploaded our March Quarterly Statistical Report on our website. To see this Report, please click here or go to
Publication and Links page on this website. |
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3 April 2008
12 Feb 2008 | 31 March - 5 April 2008 was Law Week. On 1 April 2008 the NSW Attorney General's Department hosted the Community Open Day at the Parramatta Justice Precinct.
Along with a number of other agencies, Privacy NSW had an information stall in the courtyard of the Parramatta Justice Precinct. We met representatives from government organisations (such as NSW Health who are located nearby) and representatives of non-government organisations, community groups and individuals interested in privacy rights and privacy law.
As well as Fact Sheets, FAQ's, Guidelines and brochures, we also handed out promotional pens and "Privacy Please" door hangers. The door hangers proved to be particularly popular. The information that we provided is available on our website, on the Publications page.
We had over 100 visitors to our stall on the Open Day and received good feedback about the materials and information that we provided. Some of the key concerns of the visitors to our stall were about health privacy and criminal records. People seemed to be concerned not only about their own privacy rights but also the privacy of their colleagues and clients in the work place.
Overall, the Open Day was a great opportunity for Privacy NSW to make contact with and disseminate information about Privacy NSW to the broader community. Thank you to our enthusiastic staff for their efforts in organising and manning the stall on the day.
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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