What is the privacy act (Privacy Act of the Commonwealth)?

So the privacy legislation we were talking about is the Privacy Act of the Commonwealth and there are also a number of state and territory jurisdictions that have their own privacy information.

What does the Privacy Act of the Commonwealth impact?

This legislation provides a legally enforceable right to access medical records. There are policy provisions within health agencies that allow for patients to follow a process to submit a written application in a form to an accredited Freedom of Information Officer in the organisation to consider their application to get access to their records.

Privacy legislation and the privacy act

So in addition to enabling people to access information, privacy legislation also has other provisions. For example, it protects information and opinions that do or could identify you. It also has rules regarding the collection, storage and handling of your personal information that people who are collecting it must follow.

Confidentiality and the privacy act

On top of privacy, we have confidentiality, which is both an ethical and a legal duty that focuses on the obligation of health professionals to keep information given to them in confidence and confidential.