The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) upheld and advanced information access and privacy rights throughout 2024-25 as it strengthened its ability to deliver better regulatory outcomes for the Australian community.
Releasing the OAIC’s Annual report 2024-25, Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said: “This report demonstrates the impact and credibility of the OAIC as the national regulator for privacy and freedom of information. Our broad reaching jurisdiction means that we are instrumental in securing democratic rights and promoting a healthy economy.
“This environment requires a proactive contemporary approach to regulation in this complex digital environment; that approach is tethered to regulatory transparency and proportionality.
“We apply a proactive and harm-focused approach to prioritise our efforts. We take regulatory action to encourage and support compliance by regulated entities and to address high-risk matters with the greatest potential for harm.”
During the year the OAIC finalised significant privacy breaches including a $50 million payment program as part of an enforceable undertaking received from Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta) and an enforceable undertaking offered by Oxfam Australia after the not-for-profit experienced a data breach in January 2021. Court action commenced the previous year also recently led to Australian Clinical Labs (ACL) paying $5.8 million in civil penalties in relation to a data breach by its Medlab Pathology business, the first civil penalties ordered under the Privacy Act.
“The OAIC’s impact is also well demonstrated by our data and the increase in positive results from our annual stakeholder survey. In 2024–25 we increased our performance in five of our six stakeholder measures. In case work the OAIC finalised 41% more Information Commissioner (IC) reviews than the preceding year, outpacing a 21% increase in IC reviews received,” Commissioner Tydd said.
The OAIC also published a separate FOI volume (PDF, 6006 KB) of the Annual report to improve accessibility of agency performance data and provide more detailed regulatory information. “This approach delivers greater transparency to the community and provides policy makers and agencies with reliable and insightful data regarding agency performance and the operation of the FOI system more broadly,” Commissioner Tydd said.
The OAIC strengthened the effectiveness of its educational and advisory functions during 2024-25, publishing a range of guidance and tools during the year. The privacy foundations self-assessment tool, the FOI self-assessment tool, and a new Freedom of Information (FOI) statistics dashboard all position regulated entities to achieve compliance by clearly articulating better practice and reporting against outcomes.
The results of the OAIC’s annual stakeholder survey demonstrated positive results with five out of six measures increasing, including:
- advancing online privacy protections increased from 60% to 66%
- encouraging and supporting proactive disclosure of government information increased from 56% to 65%
- OAIC’s regulatory activities demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement and building trust increased from 63% to 66%
- OAIC’s regulatory activities demonstrate collaboration and engagement increased from 58% to 64%
- OAIC’s regulatory activities are based on risk and data rose from 56% to 59%.
“The OAIC’s strategic positioning will enable us to further deliver impactful regulatory outcomes to the Australian community in 2025-26,” Commissioner Tydd said.
Key 2024–25 statistics
- Finalised 2,470 Information Commissioner (IC) reviews in 2024–25, a 41% increase compared to 1,748 in 2023–24.
- Issued 248 IC review decisions, compared to 207 previous financial year.
- Finalised 3,123 privacy complaints compared to 3,103 in 2023–24.
- Issued 10 determinations following investigations of privacy complaints and continued to reduce the number of older complaints on hand.
- Finalised 1,155 notifications under the NDB scheme, with 86% of notifications finalised within 60 days, exceeding the OAIC target of 80%.
