The Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act)
establishes the Federal legislative framework overseeing the
collection and processing of private information relating to
individuals in Australia. Whether information is subject to the
Privacy Act depends on whether that information meets the
definition of personal information.
What is personal information?
Personal information is currently defined under section
6(1) of the Privacy Act as information or an opinion about an
identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably
identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not or
recorded in material form or not.
Sensitive information and health information are also defined as
subsets of personal information and are subject to additional
privacy protections compared with other types of personal
information.
