Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998

In this Act, personal information means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database and whether or not recorded in a material form) about an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion.

Personal information includes such things as an individual’s fingerprints, retina prints, body samples or genetic characteristics.

Personal information does not include any of the following—

information about an individual who has been dead for more than 30 years,

information about an individual that is contained in a publicly available publication,

information about a witness who is included in a witness protection program under the Witness Protection Act 1995 or who is subject to other witness protection arrangements made under an Act,

information about an individual arising out of a warrant issued under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 of the Commonwealth,

information about an individual that is contained in a public interest disclosure within the meaning of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022, or that has been collected while dealing with a voluntary public interest disclosure in accordance with that Act, Part 5, Division 2,

information about an individual arising out of, or in connection with, an authorised operation within the meaning of the Law Enforcement (Controlled Operations) Act 1997,

information about an individual arising out of a Royal Commission or Special Commission of Inquiry,

information about an individual arising out of a complaint made under Part 8A of the Police Act 1990,

information about an individual that is contained in Cabinet information or Executive Council information under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009,

information or an opinion about an individual’s suitability for appointment or employment as a public sector official,

information about an individual that is obtained about an individual under Chapter 8 (Adoption information) of the Adoption Act 2000,

information about an individual that is of a class, or is contained in a document of a class, prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this subsection.

Personal information is held by a public sector agency if—

the agency is in possession or control of the information, or

the information is in the possession or control of a person employed or engaged by the agency in the course of such employment or engagement, or

the information is contained in a State record in respect of which the agency is responsible under the State Records Act 1998.

For the purposes of this Act, personal information is not collected by a public sector agency if the receipt of the information by the agency is unsolicited.