p o s t:	G P O   B o x   1 1 9 6  
	S y d n e y   N S W   2 0 0 1
e m a i l:	m a i l @ p r i v a c y . o r g . a u
w e b : 	w w w . p r i v a c y . o r g . a u	

7 October 2005

Geoff Parker
Acting CEO
Clubs Queensland
PO Box 93
NORTHGATE   QLD  4013

Dear Mr Parker

Review of the Queensland Club Industry Privacy Code

Thank you for your letter of 8 September and for the opportunity to comment on your review.

We have been following the progress of Codes under the Privacy Act with interest.  

Your Code contains only cosmetic variations from the National Privacy Principles, and does not have a separate Code Adjudicator, deferring instead to the default of complaint handling by the Privacy Commissioner.  We have not therefore found any reason to comment before, and we are not aware of any experience under the Code which would cause us any concern.

We note that your submission to the recent review of the Privacy Act was confidential.  This is unfortunate as it would have been helpful to have had the benefit of your views and experience of the Code in making this submission.  We would encourage you to publish your submission to the Privacy Commissioner.  We also hope that you will publish a report on your current review which includes at least a summary of submissions received.  We have no objection to you publishing this letter, which we will in any case be putting up on our web site at www.privacy.org.au 

While we have some doubts about the general value of the Codes under the Act, it would appear that in your case the initiative of developing and launching the Code can only have contributed to awareness of privacy obligations and rights, both amongst Clubs employees and amongst members and visitors (we note that the Code only applies to personal information about Clubs members).  The information about the Code on your website is also very clear and helpful (but see our comments on annual reports below).  We note that there is some detailed guidance material in the implementation kit which we have not reviewed in detail but which appears to be helpful.

For these reasons, we congratulate Clubs Queensland on its Code and would support its continuation.  

The only suggestions we would make relate to the reporting requirements. Clause 12.4 refers to Annual Reports by members Clubs to the Privacy Commissioner, but Clause 13.3 confers the Privacy Act reporting obligations on Clubs Queensland as the Code Adminstrator.  We assume  that Clause 12.4 should require reports to the Administrator, with Clubs Queensland then reporting to the Commissioner.

Also, the annual reports on the Code should be made public, so that the operation of the Code is transparent and members and the general public can better assess how well it is working.

We hope these comments are helpful and would be pleased to answer any questions about them.

Yours faithfully

Nigel Waters

Board Member and Policy Co-ordinator, APF
Phone: 02 4981 0828, 0407 230342
Email: nigelwaters@iprimus.com.au

CC: Privacy Commissioner