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Independent schools, as private sector organisations, are governed by the Privacy Act.
The legislation regulates the way private sector organisations can collect, use, keep secure and disclose personal information. It includes the right of individuals to know what information an organisation holds about them and a right to correct that information if it is wrong.
Schools need to handle personal information in accordance with the National Privacy Principles as outlined in the legislation. Systems and procedures need to be in place to meet requests by individuals to view their personal information held by a school.
There are also additional provisions in relation to personal information held by organisations providing health services or holding health information.
Victorian Government legislation also regulates student and other records. The Information Privacy Act 2000 covers the Victorian public sector except in relation to health information which is covered by the Health Records Act 2001.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has published detailed information on the privacy legislation. Information about coverage and exemptions can be found in Information Sheet 12 on the website.
Independent schools handling health information or other sensitive information, for example information about pupils' ethnicity or religion, should refer to Guidelines on Privacy in the Private Health Sector and the National Privacy Principle guidelines (NPP 2 and NPP 10).
Guidance for observing the Australian Government privacy laws can be found in the AISV Privacy Compliance Manual (below). This document is provided only for the use of Member Schools. Although it is comprehensive, schools may wish to seek specific professional advice on how to comply with the Privacy Act.
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