Directory of Australian Privacy Organisations

This document contains contact points within Australia that are relevant to privacy advocates. A separate page provides contact-points for international organisations. The Departments are:

• APF itself
• privacy advocacy organisations
• consumer advocacy organisations
• privacy protection agencies
• newspapers (for 'letters to the editor')
• relevant portfolios and ministers
• political parties

The links in this page are reviewed periodically. Please advise any broken links, or suggested enhancements, to the APF Web-Team.

Privacy Advocacy Organisations (in alphabetical order)

Australian Human Rights Information Centre (AHRIC)

ahrc-feedback@austlii.edu.au,UNSW, http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/ahric/

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights

admin@alhr.asn.au, Fax: +61 2 9399 6154 http://www.alhr.asn.au/

Australian Privacy Foundation

enquiries@privacy.org.au, G.P.O. Box 1196, Sydney NSW 2001 http://www.privacy.org.au/

Campaign for Fair Privacy Laws

Chris Connolly, chrisc@galexia.com, (02) 9281 4452

Civil Rights Network (CRN)

mailto:info@civilrightsnetwork.org, http://www.civilrightsnetwork.org/

Communications Law Centre (CLC)

admin@comslaw.org.au, (02) 9663 0552, (02) 9662 6839, http://comslaw.org.au

Council for Civil Liberties Organisations:

Australian Council for Civil Liberties

robogor@ozemail.com.au
http://www.qccl.org.au/aboutus.htm
Phone: (07) 3236 1311

Civil Liberties Australia, A.C.T.

secretary@cla.asn.au
http://www.cla.asn.au/
Box 7438 Fisher ACT 2611
Phone: Secretary Bill Rowlings on (02) 6288 6137

Liberty Victoria

info@libertyvictoria.org.au
http://libertyvictoria.org.au/
GPO Box 3161, Melbourne, Victoria 3001
Phone: (03) 9670 6422, Fax: (03) 9670 6433

NSW Council for Civil Liberties Inc.

office@nswccl.org.au
http://www.nswccl.org.au/
PO Box 201, Glebe NSW 2037
Ph: (02) 9660 7582, Fax: (02) 9566 4162

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties

candacewright@optusnet.com.au
http://www.qccl.org.au/
PO Box 2281, Brisbane QLD 4001
Phone: 0409 624 646

Tasmanian Council for Civil Liberties

info@tasccl.org.au
http://www.tasccl.org.au/
P.O. Box 12, Cygnet, Tasmania 7112
P: (03) 6295 1214, F: (03) 6295 1214

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA)

Irene Graham (Exec. Director)
http://www.efa.org.au/
Phone: (07) 3424 0201, Fax: (07) 3424 0241

Rights Australia

info@rightsaustralia.org.au
http://www.rightsaustralia.org.au/
PO Box 559, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Telephone (02) 9269 0569, Fax (02) 9698 5077

Consumer Advocacy Organisations (in alphabetical order)

Australian Consumer Association (ACA)

Charles Britton, CBritton@choice.com.au, (02) 9577 3333, 9577 3222, http://www.choice.com.au/

Consumer Credit Legal Service (CCLS)

carolyn.bond@ccls.org.au (03) 9670 5088, Melbourne http://www.ccls.org.au/

Consumers' Health Forum of Australia (CHF)

info@chf.org.au (02) 6273 5444, Fax: (02) 6273 5888, PO Box 3099, Manuka ACT 2603 http://www.chf.org.au/

Consumer Law Centre Victoria (CLCV)

info@clcv.net.au (03) 9629 6300, Fax: (03) 9629 6898, 9/91 William St. Melbourne, Vic, 3000 http://www.clcv.net.au/

Consumer Telecommunications Network

ctn@ctn.org.au (02) 9572-6007, http://www.ctn.org.au/

Electronic Service Delivery Network.

A Victorian-based affiliation of organisations and individuals addressing issues and implications for the delivery of state government services through online systems, including privacy matters, accessibility and equity. Convenor: Jan Whitaker, jwhit@melbpc.org.au

Financial Services Consumer Policy Centre

director@fscpc.org.au, UNSW, (02) 9281 4452, http://www.fscpc.org.au/

Health Issues Centre

Tony McBride, t.mcbride@healthissuescentre.org.au
Level 5, Health Sciences Building 2, La Trobe University VIC 3086
Phone (03) 9479 5827, Fax (03) 9479 5977
http://www.healthissuescentre.org.au/

Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU)

Kate Lance, Tony Hill, ed@isoc-au.org.au, or Craig Ng (03) 9288 0555, Fax: (03) 9288 0666, http://www.isoc-au.org.au/

Privacy Protection Agencies

Within Australia, the following privacy/data protection agencies exist:

• Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (OFPC), Sydney (but also acts on behalf of the A.C.T. Government, and has an office in Canberra). This has been in operation since 1989. The incumbents have been Kevin O'Connor (1989-97), Moira Scollay (1997-99), Malcolm Crompton (1999-2004), and Karen Curtis (2004-). Karen Curtis is a former public servant and policy director for the industry association ACCI. All four appointments to date have been made behind closed doors, with zero public consultation. Here are relevant laws
• New South Wales Privacy Commission (NSWPC, or Privacy NSW), Sydney. This has been in operation since 1975 as a Committee, and 1999 as a Commission. The incumbents have been Chris Puplick (1999-mid 2003, part-time in parallel with Anti-Discrimination Commissioner); John Dickie (2003-07, but Acting and on short-term and mostly part-time contracts, and almost invisible); and Ken Taylor (2008-). Ken Taylor is a sometime judge of the District Court and Health Care Complaints Commissioner from 2004-06 – with a staff 10 times the size of Privacy NSW. (Chris Puplick was manoeuvred out of the job in May 2003, following a midemeanour in his primary job as Anti-Discrimination Commissioner. The then Carr Government went on a vendetta to dis-establish the Privacy Commission and have its work swallowed up by the Ombudsman's office. The APF actively opposed the idea, and the Upper House rejected the Government's attempt. The Iemma Government did very little at first, but finally appointed Ken Taylor). Here are relevant laws
• Office of the Victorian Privacy Commissioner (OVPC, or Privacy Victoria), Melbourne. The first Privacy Commissioner July 1999 to July 2006 was Paul Chadwick. After a delay, the Commissioner from March 2007 is the previous Deputy, Helen Versey. Here are relevant laws
• Office of the Northern Territory Information Commissioner, Darwin. The first Information Commissioner was Peter Shoyer 2003-07. The current acting Information Commissioner is Zoe Marcham. Here are relevant laws
• A.C.T. Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (OFPC), Canberra. The Commonwealth OFPC also performs the function for the A.C.T., although very little appears to happen. Here are relevant laws
• Tasmanian Ombudsman, Hobart. The scope of the powers are extremely limited, and it is unclear whether the incumbent, Simon Allston, has done anything in relation to privacy since his office assumed responsibility for complaints-handling (only) in September 2005. Privacy is not even mentioned in his 2004-05 or 2005-06 Annual Reports. Here are relevant laws

In the laggard States:

• Queensland. A small office in the Department of Justice and Attorney-General has some some responsibilities relating to privacy. Here are relevant laws
• South Australia. There is a Privacy Committee of South Australia, run out of the State Records Office, but it is unclear whether it has ever actually done anything. An unenforceable set of Principles exists, but the primary function of the Committee is to exempt agencies from complying with it. Here are relevant laws
• Western Australia. After years of promises, an Information Privacy Bill was finally introduced into the Parliament in March 2007. It appears not to have progressed. It would create a (very) part-time Privacy and Information Commissioner, but the function will be limited, and instead of being assigned to the Information Commissioner, is being assigned to the the Ombudsman (aka the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administrative Investigations), where it will pale into insignificance. Here are relevant laws

Additional bodies of relevance in the health care sector include:

• List maintained by the ACT Health Complaints Commissioner
• ACT: Community & Health Services Complaints Commissioner http://www.healthcomplaints.act.gov.au/c/hcc
• NSW: Health Care Complaints Commission http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/
• NT: Health and Community Services Complaints Commission http://www.nt.gov.au/omb_hcscc/HCSCC/welcomehh.htm
• Queensland: Health Rights Commission http://www.hrc.qld.gov.au/
• SA: State Ombudsman http://www.ombudsman.sa.gov.au/
• Tasmania:Health Complaints Commissioner http://www.justice.tas.gov.au/health_complaints/home.html
• Victoria: Office of the Health Services Commissioner http://www.health.vic.gov.au/hsc
• WA: Office of Health Review, ohr@health.wa.gov.au

Additional bodies of relevance in other sectors include:

• A.C.T. Community Advocate has a range of statutory functions and powers with respect to children and young people, and adults with a mental illness or impaired decision making ability, who require protection from abuse, exploitation or neglect; (02) 6207-0707 http://www.oca.act.gov.au/index.html
• You may find others in the WorldLII index of Privacy Protection Agencies worldwide.

If you're aware of a relevant agency that isn't listed here, please tell us!!

Newspapers' Addresses for 'Letters to the Editor'

Here are the ways that we're aware of for sending Letters to the Editors of the major newspapers:

• Indexes:
  • The National Library of Australia
  • ThePaperBoy.com
• Fairfax:
  • Sydney Morning Herald - email: letters@smh.com.au
  • The Melbourne Age - email: letters@theage.com.au
  • Australian Financial Review - email: edletters@afr.com.au
• News Corp.:
  • The Australian - email: letters@theaustralian.com.au
  • Sydney Daily Telegraph - email: letters@dailytelegraph.com.au
  • Melbourne Herald Sun - email: hsletters@heraldsun.com.au
  • The Brisbane Courier Mail - web-mail: http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/
  • The Adelaide Advertiser - web-mail: http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/
  • The W.A. Sunday Times - web-mail: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/
  • Hobart Mercury - email: mercuryedletter@dbl.newsltd.com.au
  • Northern Territory News - email: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
  • Northern Tasmanian Examiner - email: editor@examiner.com.au or sundayterritorian@ntn.newsltd.com.au
• Some Others:
  • The West Australian - web-mail: https://secure.thewest.com.au/static/letters-to-editor/
  • Townsville Bulletin - email: edsec@nqn.newsltd.com.au

Relevant Portfolios and Ministers (last reviewed August 2004)

In order to provide the appearance of doing something, governments change the names and responsibilities of ministerial portfolios frequently. Here's the best we could do, as at August 2004:

• Commonwealth Attorney-General email: ag@ag.gov.au
• N.S.W. Attorney-General, email: bluemountains@parliament.nsw.gov.au
• Victorian Attorney-General, Department of Justice, Information Privacy Unit, email: foi@justice.vic.gov.au
• Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, email attorney@ministerial.qld.gov.au
• W.A. Attorney-General (or is it Justice?) email: jim-mcginty@dpc.wa.gov.au
• S.A. Attorney-General email : justice@justice.sa.gov.au
• Tasmanian Attorney-General (or is it Justice?) email: judy.jackson@justice.tas.gov.au
• A.C.T. Justice and Community Safety
• N.T. Justice email: peter.toyne@nt.gov.au

Registered Political Parties

• Electoral Commission list of currently registered Parties

Major Political Parties

• Australian Democrats email: inquiries@democrats.org.au.
• Australian Labor Party email: info@cbr.alp.org.au
• The Greens email: frontdesk@greens.org.au
• Liberal Party of Australia email: libadm@liberal.org.au
• National Party of Australia email: federal.nationals@nationals.org.au

Some Key Players (last reviewed February 2007)

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Created: 17 December 1998 - Last Amended: 21 December 2007 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 11 January 2005
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