Privacy complaints

Your privacy rights

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) promotes and protects the privacy of individuals by regulating the way personal information is handled.

Complaints about breaches of privacy may relate to the inappropriate sharing or use of personal information.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards, for example, keep several files that may contain personal information, including:

• registration files
• notification files
• investigation files
• public register information, including previous registration and disciplinary information
• legal files
• employment files
• general administration files and documents.

Complaints to the Ombudsman that raise privacy concerns

We can consider complaints to the Ombudsman about how Ahpra, a National Board or an accreditation organisation handled a matter. Sometimes these complaints raise concerns that relate to a person's privacy.

Complaints the Ombudsman can consider include issues such as:

• unreasonable delays in responding to concerns about the use of personal information
• lack of communication about the use of personal information
• lack of clarity or transparency about how and why a decision was made about the use of personal information
• actions that resulted in the publishing of personal information.