This page provides information about how Members can contribute to the operation of the APF. It comprises three sections:

Invitation to Become a Member

Please read the APF’s Obectives. If you want to, please also read its Rules of Incorporation.

To join, go to the Membership Form, and follow the instructions. If you have any questions, here are the association’s contact points.

The annual subscription fees are set low, in order to make sure that they are not a barrier to people joining.

If you want to make a more substantial financial contribution, please consider life membership, or a donation, or a contribution to a specific campaign. Room is provided for each of these on the application and renewal forms. The funds are used to support research, and to pay the travel costs involved in getting people with appropriate expertise in front of parliamentary and government committees.

Actions By Members

There are many things that APF Members can do, in order to contribute to the protection of privacy in Australia. These include:

  • subscribe to the privacy discussion list, read other people’s postings, and make your own contributions to it. (The list is run by Electronic Frontiers Australia, in conjunction with APF)
  • monitor the media, and draw people’s attention to issues, to important news about issues, and to sources of information
  • keep your eyes open to privacy-related issues in your community, workplace, and school, and draw people’s attention to issues, to important news about issues, and to sources of information
  • propose enhancements to the APF’s web-site, especially the Resources, Contacts and Issues sections
  • participate in activities organised by the Foundation
  • become familiar with current Australian privacy laws and relevant laws of your State or Territory, and get involved with government reviews of those laws that happen from time to time
  • join and contribute to organisations that support the values of the Foundation, and that operate at State or local level, or that focus on particular segments (like health or the workplace), or particular issues (like video-surveillance or tele-marketing)
  • volunteer your time and expertise by serving on Foundation committees, task forces, and working groups
  • recruit new members, both individuals and organisations

Research and Advocacy

The APF has been conducting research, and advocating the public interest, since 1987. This has resulted in scores of submissions in relation to a wide variety of issues, and appearances before many official committees.

The APF is a volunteer organisation, and depends on its members for expertise, and for energy. People are needed with the following qualities:

  • concern about privacy
  • expertise in privacy generally
  • expertise in areas in which privacy issues arise, such as information technology, health care, telecommunications, road transport, industrial law, privacy law, etc.
  • expertise in, and/or the preparedness to research, privacy issues in one or more specific areas
  • expertise in the written and/or verbal presentation of carefully researched arguments to parliaments, official committees, government agencies, industry associations, and corporations
  • the energy to study documents, prepare working papers, draft and review position papers, negotiate with organisations, and participate in media campaigns
  • responsibility and steadiness in dealing with corporations, government agencies and the media
  • the patience to coax and cajole organisations towards understanding of privacy concerns

If this sounds like you, and you would like to be involved in APF’s research and advocacy activities, we’d be delighted to hear from you via the association’s contact points. If you want to contribute by assisting with a submission, please read the Submission Guidelines.