Privacy complaints

Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) you can make a complaint about the handling of your personal information by Australian, ACT and Norfolk Island government agencies and private sector organisations covered by the Privacy Act. The handling of your personal information by State and Northern Territory government agencies is not covered by the Privacy Act. If you are unsure about whether the OAIC can investigate your complaint, please refer to our Complaint Checker for guidance.

How to make a privacy complaint

You can make a privacy complaint by using our new online Privacy Complaint form (this requires Adobe Reader 9.3 or later). If you do not have access to Adobe you can access a privacy complaint form in different formats, either HTML or Word or you can simply just write to us. For more information about making a privacy complaint, see the complaints section of the former Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s website.

Note that before 1 November 2010, the OAIC's privacy functions were carried out by the former Office of the Privacy Commissioner. From 1 November 2010, the Privacy Act has continued to operate and the position of Privacy Commissioner has continued, but the functions have been transferred to the OAIC.