Significant changes were made to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) which came into effect on 12 March 2014.

For detailed information on Commonwealth Government Agencies and Non-Government privacy obligations see the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner(OAIC).

The OAIC have produced the following short videos which provide general information:

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) gives effect to the Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 17). The OECD guidelines cover the collection of personal information, its use and access to and alteration of, the information.

The Act has three areas of operation where the OECD guidelines provide legally binding standards:

It also covers Health Information.