Information and Privacy Commission (NSW)
A short factsheet on the IPC: the independent NSW statutory authority combining information-access review and privacy oversight.
Learning outcomes
- State the IPC's establishing Act and its combined information-access and privacy functions.
- Explain the difference between the Information Commissioner's GIPA-review role and the Privacy Commissioner's role under the PPIP and HRIP Acts.
- Identify that the IPC is not a prosecuting authority and does not itself decide access disputes.
Act: Government Information (Information Commissioner) Act 2009 (NSW).1
Established: The Information Commissioner's role dates to the 2009 Act; the combined Information and Privacy Commission (IPC), bringing information-access and privacy functions together in one office, has operated since 1 January 2011.
Purpose: The IPC combines two related but distinct functions. The Information Commissioner reviews how agencies handle requests and complaints under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) (the GIPA Act). The Privacy Commissioner administers the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW), promoting privacy awareness and providing advice to agencies and the public.
Powers conferred under the Act
The Information Commissioner can investigate and report on how an agency has exercised its GIPA functions, and deals with complaints about agency conduct under that Act. The IPC is an independent statutory authority that does not report to any Minister. Instead, its functions are themselves monitored by a NSW Parliamentary committee — the same committee that oversees the NSW Ombudsman, the LECC and the NSW Crime Commission.
Is it a prosecuting authority?
No. The IPC reviews agency decisions and handles complaints about information access and privacy; it does not itself finally decide an access dispute (that can go on to NCAT) and has no criminal enforcement function. No specific leading case is cited here.
How it relates to the other NSW bodies
The IPC's information-access review sits alongside, not instead of, a person's right to seek internal review from the agency itself or apply to NCAT for external review of a GIPA decision. Where a complaint is about general maladministration rather than information access or privacy specifically, the NSW Ombudsman is the more relevant body.
Self-check
- Have I distinguished the Information Commissioner's GIPA-review role from the Privacy Commissioner's role under the PPIP and HRIP Acts?
- Have I noted that the IPC does not itself finally decide access disputes?
- Have I avoided asserting case law this factsheet did not confirm?