Australian Privacy Charter Council
Version of 4 November 1996
© Australian Privacy Charter Council, 1996, 2003
This document is at http://www.privacy.org.au/apcc/About/History.html
The availability of powerful new visual, communication and information processing technologies, able to integrate data cheaply, are making increased surveillance of individuals very easy. Miniaturisation of visual and audio equipment makes surveillance invisible.
The Australian Privacy Charter Council was established in 1992, under the Chairmanship of Justice Kirby, to develop a Privacy Charter comprising principles which would encompass and apply to:
The Charter was developed by a Council of 25 invited members with backgrounds in law, business, auditing, information technology, security, privacy, media and politics. The general principles and issues were agreed by the entire Council. The Charter was then drafted by a working party that met under the Chairmanship of Justice Kirby. Drafts were sent for comment to all Council members. In June 1994 a final draft was sent to representatives other relevant organisations and community groups throughout Australia and privacy advocates in Australia and overseas.
The Australian Privacy Charter was launched by Justice Kirby, Professor Graham Greenleaf and Janine Haines at the New South Wales Parliament buildings in December, 1994. There was significant interest from the media. The Charter has been discussed in numerous radio talk back shows and interviews. Newspaper items and magazine articles about the Charter and privacy and surveillance issues have been published. And television interviews about privacy and surveillance which have referred to the Charter and the issues it raises have been screened.
The goal of the Australian Privacy Charter Council is to establish permanent change in the practices and processes that deliver privacy protection for individuals. The Charter aims to provide:
The activities of the Australian Privacy Charter Council have been directed at:
The work of the Australian Privacy Charter Council has been supported and funded by the University of New South Wales School of Law, by Council members and from fees earned from briefing executives about the Principles, developments in privacy legislation and regulation within Australia and throughout the world. The Australian Privacy Charter Council was incorporated as a society in 1995.
The Charter's influence was seen in particular in the inclusion of the right to anonymity in the Federal Privacy Commissioner's 1998 National Principles for the Fair Handling of Personal Data. This newly accepted right was subsequently incorporated in the amendments to the Federal Privacy Act in 2000 to cover the private sector.
The Privacy Charter Council operated independently of the Australian Privacy Foundation until 2002 when, having served its purpose, it was wound up. It handed the Privacy Charter to this Foundation as a still-current and relevant benchmark standard.
Please see the Australian Privacy Foundation site for a copy of the Privacy Charter, the history of the Council and the Foundation, and lots more on privacy in Australia.
The reader is encouraged to explore the Australian Privacy Foundation website for opportunities of membership and contributions in this on-going struggle for personal privacy in Australia. Please visit and bookmark: http://www.privacy.org.au/
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Created: 4 November 1996
Last Amended: June 2003
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