Introduction
The Queensland Government has passed legislation that requires personal information held by Queensland Government agencies to be responsibly and transparently collected and managed in accordance with 11 Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) contained in the IP Act. The primary intent of the Government's privacy policy is to protect the privacy of individuals' personal information in the delivery of government services and the conduct of government business.
Personal Information
"Personal information" for the purposes of the IP Act is defined as "information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion." Examples of personal information include a person's name, address, date of birth or telephone number.
The information does not have to clearly identify a person, but needs only to provide sufficient information to lead to the identification of a person. The IP Act covers information held by any means whatsoever, including paper and electronic records.