Page 1576 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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more of the functions of the Information Privacy Commissioner in the ACT. To date the Australian Privacy Commissioner, working with the office of the Australian Information Commission, has acted as the ACT Information Privacy Commissioner under a memorandum of understanding. This arrangement has provided the ACT with quality privacy services which draw on the commission’s long-established expertise in working proactively to improve privacy protection awareness.
The commonwealth has announced as part of this year’s federal budget that the AIC will be abolished. However, the Privacy Commissioner will be retained as a stand-alone office. I will be assessing the commonwealth’s new arrangements to ensure the territory can retain the best possible services in this area. The bill greatly assists in that endeavour by maximising our flexibility as to how we source privacy services.
Where a complaint is made, the commissioner must provide assistance to the individual to make the complaint, for example, by advising the individual about the complaints process or by helping them to put the complaint in writing. The complaint may be referred to the commissioner by the Ombudsman or the Human Rights Commission or by an interstate privacy commission. The Information Privacy Commissioner will make preliminary inquiries, notifying the respondent agency, to determine whether the complaint should be dealt with under division 6.4.
In certain circumstances, such as where the complaint does not indicate that the interference has occurred or where the complaint was made 12 months after the alleged interference, the Privacy Commissioner may decide not to deal with the complaint. If the commissioner decides to deal with the complaint, the commissioner may make the inquiries and investigations in relation to that complaint that the commissioner thinks appropriate.
If, after investigating the complaint, the commissioner is reasonably satisfied that the act or practice is serious or that there has been repeated interference with the complainant’s privacy, the commissioner may give me a written report about the complaint. If I receive such a report, as minister I must present it to this Assembly within six sitting days. This new mechanism provides accountability, an oversight of the privacy practices and procedures of ACT government agencies.
Civil penalty provisions were considered for inclusion in this bill. However, it is not clear how they would be enforced at the commonwealth level or how widely they might be used to complement other potential remedies. In light of the lack of precedent at the commonwealth level, it is the government’s view that it is appropriate that the ACT provide for an oversight mechanism to consider the use of civil penalties at a later stage when the need for them and their effectiveness can be more clearly demonstrated.
Finally, the bill provides for regulation making in the development and use of materials, guidelines and forms to assist with the administration and enforcement of the act. Schedule 1 then sets out the territory privacy principles. These principles have been numbered consistently with the Australian privacy principles for ease of reference.
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