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Under the Privacy Act 1988, (Privacy Act), you have a right to access your personal information that is held by this department. You also have a right to request corrections to any personal information we hold about you if you think it is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. You can also apply under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act)to access and correct documents we hold containing your personal information. These rights to access and correction of personal information under the Privacy Act and the FOI Act operate independently. As a result, you have a choice whether to seek access to or correction of your personal information under the Privacy Act (APP 12 and APP 13) or under the FOI Act. There are no fees or charges for providing access to or correcting personal information under the Privacy Act. However, there may be a charge involved for us to process a request under the FOI Act if your request goes beyond a request for your own personal information. You can make a request under the FOI Act to access or correct your personal information by emailing, calling or writing to: Email:
BARTON ACT 2600 More information about making an FOI request is available on our Freedom of information page. Privacy Act requestYou can make a request under the Privacy Act to access or correct your personal information by emailing, calling or writing to: Email: BARTON ACT 2600 Accessing personal informationThe FOI Act may be a more comprehensive mechanism to use for personal information access requests becaus:e
Differences between the FOI Act and the Privacy Act access to information provisions
Amending, correcting or annotating personal informationFOI Act amendment and annotationUnder the FOI Act, you may apply to us to amend or annotate a record of your personal information, but only in respect of records to which you have obtained lawful access and only records which have an administrative purpose. Where we are satisfied that the information is incomplete, incorrect, out-of-date or misleading, we may amend the record. We are not obliged to amend the record. Where we agree to amend a record, we must, as far as possible, retain the text of the record as it was prior to the amendment. Where an amendment request is refused, we must provide reasons for the refusal. We must also give you an opportunity to make a statement expressing your disagreement with the record and we are obliged to annotate the record, by attaching that statement—unless we consider the statement to be irrelevant, defamatory or unnecessarily voluminous. Privacy Act correction and annotationThe Privacy Act (APP 13) sets out minimum procedural requirements for the correction or annotation of personal information. You may request the correction or annotation of your personal information on the same grounds as the FOI grounds but with the additional ground of the information being irrelevant. Under the Privacy Act we are obliged to take reasonable steps to correct or annotate your personal information. You can also request that we take reasonable steps to notify any other agencies or organisations of the correction to your information that we previously provided to them. If you make a Privacy Act correction or annotation request, but are dissatisfied with the results, you can make a new request under the FOI Act to amend or annotate the information. Differences between the FOI Act and the Privacy Act correction and annotation provisions
Evidence of identityYou must provide evidence of your identity if you apply to access or correct departmental documents containing your personal information. The evidence of your identity must clearly show that you are the person whose personal information is being requested or corrected. Acceptable identity documents include: a passport, an Australian driver’s licence or any other official identification in the English language which contains your photo, signature and address. Copies of identification documents should be certified as true copies of the originals by a person with the power to witness a Commonwealth statutory declaration. Requests made on behalf of another personIf you are making a request to access or correct the personal information of another person, we will ask you for a written authority from that person, authorising you to make the request on their behalf. We will also ask for evidence of both identities, showing clearly that you are the person who is authorised to apply on behalf of the other person. When we can refuse a request for access or correctionWe may decline access to, or correction of, personal information in certain circumstances, as set out in the Privacy Act. Generally, if we refuse to give you access, we will notify you in writing, including the reasons for refusal and the mechanisms available to you to dispute that decision. If you need help with your request please contact the department’s Privacy Officer. |