Compliance Colleague · Standards · Australia & New Zealand

Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the APPs: cited answers and gap reviews

An AI compliance assistant for APP entities and companies with an Australian link · updated 2026-10-03

The Privacy Act 1988 and its 13 Australian Privacy Principles govern personal information in Australia. Compliance Colleague covers the APPs, the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and the 2024 reforms, including automated-decision transparency from 10 December 2026.

Try it on your own Australian Privacy Act work: one document review or two questions, free for 30 days, no card required. Start free →

What it covers

The 13 Australian Privacy Principles
The Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and serious harm
OAIC enforcement and the three penalty tiers
The statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy and the Children's Online Privacy Code
Automated-decision transparency in privacy policies (APP 1.7 to 1.9, from 10 December 2026)

Questions you can ask

“Is this an eligible data breach we must notify?”
“What must our privacy policy say about automated decisions from December 2026?”
“Does the small business exemption apply to us?”

Every answer cites the Australian Privacy Act requirement, article or control it rests on, so you can check it in seconds.

What you can upload for review

Your APP privacy policy checked against APP 1
A data breach response plan checked against the NDB scheme
A cross-border disclosure procedure checked against APP 8

Files: PDF, Word, Excel or CSV, Visio (.vsdx), draw.io, or an image such as a screenshot. Choose a full review, a prioritized fix list (each gap with its fix and the evidence an assessor will expect) or a short summary, and download the result as Word or PDF.

Crosswalk Australian Privacy Act to other standards

With Australian Privacy Act in your plan you can compare it against any standard in the library and see where they align and exactly where they don’t. Common pairings:

Upcoming Australian Privacy Act dates

December 10, 2026

Australia: automated-decision transparency (APP 1.7-1.9) in force

Source: Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024, s. 2 (item 7) and Schedule 1 Part 15

Add every compliance deadline to your calendar, free →

What it’s built from

Compliance Colleague carries the official text and checks its answers against it: Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), Compilation No. 104 (C2026C00227), including the Australian Privacy Principles (Schedule 1) and the statutory tort (Schedule 2) (Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Federal Register of Legislation (Commonwealth of Australia)); Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (No. 128, 2024): commencement table and Schedule 1, Part 15 (automated decisions in privacy policies, from 10 Dec 2026) (Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Federal Register of Legislation (Commonwealth of Australia)).

Re-checked every month for new versions, deadlines and penalty changes. Full list on the sources page.

More Australia & New Zealand standards

Australian ISM · NZISM

Compliance Colleague covers 30+ security, privacy and AI governance standards. It reviews policies, spreadsheets and diagrams and answers questions with the clause cited; your judgment and sign-off stay with you. Try it free, no card required →

Research aid, not legal or audit advice, and not an audit opinion or certification. Verify findings against the official text before relying on them.