Governments backs dozens of new protection proposals after Privacy Act review

The Attorney-General's department has undertaken an extensive review of the Privacy Act, making 116 proposals to the government in its report.

The government has agreed with 38 measures and has given in-principle agreement to a further 68 proposals, meaning it will undertake further consultation with relevant parties before making a final decision.

It in principle agreed that a "fair and reasonable" test should be applied whenever personal data is collected.

As part of the test, a number of factors may be considered, including whether individuals would expect their information to be collected, the kind of information being collected and if "the impact on privacy is proportionate to the benefit".

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The government has also agreed in principle to update the definition of personal information to include elements like an IP address, which could identify an individual even if their name and address has not revealed.

It has given full backing to proposals that will require government and organisations to be more transparent about personal information used in automated decision making.

Labor has also backed scrapping provisions that exempts small business from the Privacy Act after an impact analysis and support measures have been developed but hasn't made a final determination on the measures.

The proposal has previously sparked concerns from some within the small business industry.

The government has rejected 10 proposal, including the six that sought to bring political parties under the Privacy Act.

The government has committed to legislating changes to the Privacy Act next year.