Data Protection Laws of the World Handbook: Second Edition - Australia

LAW

Data protection in Australia is currently a mix of Federal and State/Territory legislation. The Federal Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and its National Privacy Principles applies to private sector businesses and its Information Privacy Principles apply to all Commonwealth Government and Australian Capital Territory Government agencies ("Privacy Act").

Australian States and Territories (except for Western Australia and South Australia) each have their own data protection legislation applying to State Government agencies (and private businesses interaction with them). These acts are:

• Information Act 2002 (Northern Territory);
• Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (New South Wales);