In the Federal Budget announced in May 2014, radical changes will be implemented in relation to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The OAIC is the regulatory agency that has, until now, dealt with compliance in respect of privacy. On and from 31 December 2014, the OAIC will be disbanded.

The obligations of the OAIC will now be split between 4 agencies. On and from 1 January 2015, the following will be implemented:

1. The Privacy Act will be administered by a Privacy Commissioner acting in an independent statutory position within the Australian Human Rights Commission;

2. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, policy advice, guidance and related activity will be administered by the Attorney General’s department in Canberra;

3. The right to an external merits review of FOI decisions will be to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal;

4. Complaints about FOI administration by Government agencies will be made directly to the Commonwealth Ombudsman; and

5. Unresolved FOI review applications or complaints before the Privacy Commissioner will be transferred to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

The implications of this are a more decentralised approach to privacy compliance and management. The long terms effects of this change are presently unclear. However, this should not be interpreted as a way to lessen the application or impact of the legislative changes to the Privacy Act and Australian Privacy Principles which came into force on 12 March 2014. You may have attended an AuSAE webinar given by Mills Oakley Lawyers this year setting out those changes. Compliance with the new privacy regime is mandatory.

AuSAE partner Mills Oakley Lawyers would be delighted to assist you in any queries you have in relation to the application and extent of impact the recent changes to the Privacy Act will have on your organisation and its activities. Mills Oakley provide an offer to AuSAE members that constitutes a significant reduction on the hourly rates they charge to assist with compliance. Click here to see the offer. Please contact Damian Ward on 02 8289 5862 or dward@millsoakley.com.au for further information.

We will be providing further updates in relation to privacy related matters in the near future.

Toni Brearley
Deputy Chief Executive Officer 
AuSAE