From Attorney-General’s website:
[Notation added in square brackets]
Under the Privacy Act 1988, (Privacy Act), you have a right to access your personal information that is held by this department. You also have a right to request corrections to any personal information we hold about you if you think it is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.
In addition to your rights under the Privacy Act, you can also apply under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) to access and correct documents this department [or any other gov department] holds containing your personal information.
These rights to access and correction of personal information under the Privacy Act and the FOI Act operate independently. As a result, you have a choice whether to seek access to or correction of your personal information under the Privacy Act (APP 12 and APP 13) or under the FOI Act.
There are no fees or charges for providing access to or correcting personal information under the Privacy Act. However, there may be a charge involved for us to process a request under the FOI Act if your request goes beyond a request for your own personal information.
Privacy Act 1988
https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A03712/latest/downloads (url)
PrivacyAct1988C2024C00174 (pdf)
The Privacy Act 1988 provides for an individual’s right to access their personal information held by an entity in Australian Privacy Principle (APP) 12 – Access to personal information.
Australian Privacy Principles
Australian Privacy Principles:
Part 5—Access to, and correction of, personal information
12 Australian Privacy Principle 12—access to personal information
Access
12.1 If an APP entity holds personal information about an individual, the entity must, on request by the individual, give the individual access to the information.
13 Australian Privacy Principle 13—correction of personal information
Correction
13.1 If:
(a) an APP entity holds personal information about an individual; and
(b) either:
(i) the entity is satisfied that, having regard to a purpose for which the information is held, the information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading; or
(ii) the individual requests the entity to correct the information;
the entity must take such steps (if any) as are reasonable in the circumstances to correct that information to ensure that, having regard to the purpose for which it is held, the information is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.Notification of correction to third parties
13.2 If:
(a) the APP entity corrects personal information about an individual that the entity previously disclosed to another APP entity; and
(b) the individual requests the entity to notify the other APP entity of the correction;
the entity must take such steps (if any) as are reasonable in the circumstances to give that notification unless it is impracticable or unlawful to do so.