Privacy complaints to OAIC grew 17% in FY17

Privacy complaints to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OAIC) climbed 17% during the 2016–17 financial year as consumer awareness of privacy issues swelled, according to the agency’s annual report.

The office fielded 2494 total privacy complaints during the financial year, with the highest proportion of complaints related to the financial sector (15%), followed by health service providers (11%) and the Australian Government (10%).

Together with telecommunications (8%), credit reporting bodies (6%) and retail (5%), these sectors contributed to around half of all complaints.

Some 95% of privacy complaints were finalised by the OAIC within the first 12 months of their receipt — exceeding its performance target of 80% — with 22% more cases closed in 2016–17 than in the prior year. The average time taken to close a complaint was 4.7 months.

But the OAIC did not meet its target of resolving the majority of complaints by conciliation with both parties, with only 36% of complaints closed on the basis that the respondent had adequately dealt with the matter.

The OAIC also failed to meet its target of a median time for the completion of privacy assessments of under 6 months — the median time taken to complete assessments in 2016–17 was instead 7.1 months.

During the financial year there was a noticeable increase in businesses showing a commitment to privacy, according to information commissioner Timothy Pilgrim. A record 369 businesses and agencies sighed up to be Privacy Awareness Week Partners in 2017, up 49% from 2016.

“Developments in technological, social, commercial and government service delivery environments continue to drive increasing community and professional interest in privacy and privacy governance,” Pilgrim said.

The importance of privacy and trust for Australian consumers was underscored by the findings of the OAIC's 2017 Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey, he said.

“That survey shows 58% of Australians have avoided a business because of privacy concerns and 44% said they had chosen not to use a mobile app for the same reason. These findings reinforce the view that a successful data-driven economy needs a strong foundation in privacy.”

Pilgrim is jointly leading development an APS-wide privacy code with the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The code will come into effect on 1 July and will seek to provide “a clear outline to the Australian community on what they can expect from agencies handling their personal information”, he said.

Together with the introduction next month of the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, this is expected to strengthen Australia’s privacy governance in both the public and private sectors.

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