The legal landscape regarding personal privacy in Australia is a complicated patchwork of legislation (written law) and common law (law developed by judges when adjudicating cases in court). The law may also differ between each state and territory as well as nationally. A lawyer can help you or your organisation navigate this path.

A lawyer can help you understand your rights and responsibilities when it comes to privacy law. By obtaining legal advice the rules that apply in your specific situation will be clarified for you.

Complaints about conduct by a person or an organisation that may be in direct breach of your privacy can be reported to the Information Commissioner. A lawyer can explain the powers given to the Australian Information Commissioner to investigate privacy complaints. If you wish to make a complaint about how your privacy has been affected a lawyer can explain the complaint procedures you will need to follow and outline any other legal options available to you.

If you run a business a lawyer can help you develop processes and systems that comply with Australian privacy law. For example a lawyer can advise your organisation on how to handle personal information in compliance with the newly introduced National Privacy Principles (NPPs). Failing to design your business in a way that complies with privacy law can result in breaches that are expensive to fix. Being proactive is usually more financially efficient than being reactive.

A lawyer can also help your organisation to quickly and effectively identify and deal with privacy complaints. Complaints handling is a key element of avoiding adverse enforcement actions under privacy law. Efficient handling of a privacy complaint will minimise the risk of such a complaint being forwarded to the Information Commissioner.

If a privacy complaint is made against you the Information Commissioner is likely to consider all measures taken by your organisation to comply with privacy laws. A lawyer can therefore assist your organisation to document its privacy compliance measures and to ensure that its privacy policies are implemented effectively.