Your rights
The Privacy Act provides you with rights, including:
- being told generally what kind of information we are collecting and how we collect it;
- being told the purpose for which your personal information is being collected;
- your personal information can only be collected for a lawful purpose;
- being given the opportunity to deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym where it is not impracticable to do so;
- finding out what information we hold about you and have it corrected if you can show that it is incorrect, out of date or incomplete;
- providing that your personal information must be stored securely and protected from interference or misuse; and
- finding out how your personal information will be used.
You can also make a complaint to us about the way your personal information has been handled under the Privacy Act and we are required to consider and respond to your complaint.
When the APPs apply
The APPs generally apply to records created or received by the National Archives to carry out its functions and activities.
When the APPs apply to older records
If an individual believes that their personal information contained on a National Archives' administrative record that is in the open access period is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, that individual may apply to us to have the information amended. This request may be made either under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) or the Privacy Act. Please contact the Privacy Officer (privacy@naa.gov.au) for further information and assistance regarding your application; noting that either approach reinforces your right under APP 13 to have your personal information corrected.
Special considerations also apply to records in the National Archives collection as these can only be destroyed or altered in accordance with the Archives Act 1983 (Cth) (Archives Act).
The APPs do not apply to the National Archives collection
The APPs do not generally apply to Commonwealth records in the National Archives' collection.
The National Archives is responsible for the custody and care of records in the 'open access' period. The National Archives collection is made up of approximately 40 million items (which includes records, images, maps, volumes and other objects) in over 80,000 series. They are the records of almost 10,000 past and present Commonwealth agencies and persons. The APPs have very limited application to the collection.
The National Archives collection is administered under the Archives Act. The National Archives is required to make all records in the open access period available to the public unless they are exempt. When deciding if a record should be made available to the public your personal affairs will be considered in line with the National Archives Access Examination Policy – personal, business and professional affairs of a person, rather than the APPs.
Privacy Policy
The National Archives Privacy Policy explains how the agency deals with personal information generally, including its collection, storage, security, access, use and disclosure.
If you have privacy concerns
If you are concerned about how we have collected or managed your personal information, you can read our Privacy Policy to familiarise yourself with our approach to privacy. You can also call our Privacy Contact Officer at the following contact points:
Telephone + 61 2 6212 3600 (callers within Australia)
Speak and Listen users phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 02 6212 3900
Internet Relay users connect to the National Relay Service then enter 02 6212 3900
Email privacy@naa.gov.au
Privacy Contact Officer
National Archives of Australia
PO Box 4924
KINGSTON ACT 2604
Australia
If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your privacy concerns you can also contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) directly. The OAIC is independent to us and has the power to investigate complaints about possible interferences with your privacy. It is usually best to contact us first. While it is possible for the first contact to be with the OAIC, they will generally ask us to conduct our own enquiry first and pass any findings on to the OAIC.
How we protect and respect your information
The statements below have been prepared in accordance with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's Guidelines for Federal and ACT Government Websites.
Visiting this website
The National Archives makes a record of your visit to this site, including through the use of cookies, and logs the following information for statistical purposes:
- your server address
- your top-level domain name (e.g. .gov, .com, .edu, .org, .au, .nz, etc.)
- which pages you accessed and which documents you downloaded
- the date and time of your visit
- the site from whence you came
- your operating system (e.g. Windows, Mac)
- which browser you used (e.g. Internet Explorer)
- the age group you fall into
- your gender
- your topics of interest.
These logs are used to administer the website and to diagnose problems in order to be able to rectify them. This data is also used for audience research to help us to improve the site.
IP addresses do not ordinarily contain any personally identifiable information and are aggregated for analysis. Such aggregate data may be used by the National Archives. Recording usage patterns helps us to identify popular areas of our site, and helps us to improve the site. Reports generated on aggregate data are periodically reported on as part of the National Archives’ internal governance.
We will make no attempt to identify you or your browsing activities except, in the unlikely event of an investigation, where a law enforcement agency may exercise its authority to inspect the service provider's logs.
Our website uses the Department of Finance’s GovCMS content management platform and web hosting service. The Department of Finance may, in its role as a service provider of GovCMS, collect and use Website Analytics data collected from this website for the purpose of providing services to the National Archives. For further information, please refer to the Department of Finance’s GovCMS privacy policy.
Emailing us
The National Archives will only record your email address if you send us a message. The address will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it. We will not use your email address for any other purpose and will not disclose it without your consent.
All correspondence and comments supplied to the National Archives will be stored for a period of time as set down in the Administrative Functions Disposal Authority (AFDA).
Using our online shop
The National Archives online shop provides a secure connection to your browser, meaning that you can be sure that your personal details and credit card number are safe when shopping online with us.
You can find out more about safe shopping online with the National Archives.
Our P3P statement
The National Archives supplies information about its online privacy practices in standard format that can be retrieved automatically and interpreted easily by user agents. This is done through a P3P statement, available below. Find out more about P3P at www.w3.org/P3P/.
