In November 2010, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was integrated into the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the OAIC) by the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010. The mandate of the OAIC remains unchanged, in that it must investigate complaints made to it in respect of alleged interferences with an individual's privacy. It has broad powers of investigation and can compel the production of documents as well as other information. The OAIC can also require persons to give evidence and attend compulsory conferences: ss 43–46, Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (Cth) enhanced the powers of the OAIC to include conducting assessments of privacy compliance for APP entities, the power to accept enforceable undertakings and imposition of civil penalties.

With the reforms enacted in 2010 there are now three statutory officers within the OAIC — the Australian Information Commissioner, the Freedom of Information and the Privacy Commissioner.

The Freedom of Information Amendment (New Arrangements) Bill 2014, which proposes to disband the OAIC by 1 January 2015, was not considered by the Senate before the end of the 2014 sitting period. It was proposed that the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) would, after that time, be administered by the Privacy Commissioner with a staff based in Sydney; the Freedom of Information Act would be administered by the Attorney-General's Department and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Commonwealth Ombudsman, jointly. It was planned that the information policy function performed by the OAIC currently would cease. In May 2015 the OAIC announced that it had received transitional funding of $1.7 million for 12 months pending the implementation of the Government’s measure “Smaller Government — Privacy and Freedom of Information functions — new arrangements”. The OAIC remains operational at the time of writing.

See Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) outlines the complaints process. Complaints are lodged with the OAIC (Pt V, Div I , Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)). The OAIC will not investigate the complaint if the complainant has not already complained to the respondent (unless the OAIC is satisfied it was not appropriate for the complainant to do so). The OAIC may decide not to investigate a complaint and may make preliminary inquiries for the purposes of deciding whether or not to investigate. The OAIC will attempt to resolve complaints on a case-by-case basis through conciliation. The OAIC has discretion as to whether or not to conduct a hearing in order to determine the matter. Interested parties may also request a hearing.

There are several possible resolutions to complaints, which range from an apology, to compensation for financial or non-financial loss. The OAIC has the power to make non-binding determinations, in the event that conciliation is not successful.

See Complaints process.

Following the conciliation process, parties may seek internal or external review of the process and/or handling of the complaint by the OAIC. External review may be sought from the Federal Court of Australia or the Federal Circuit Court of Australia (previously the Federal Magistrates Court), the Administrative Appeals Tribunal or the Commonwealth Ombudsman. In Review and enforcement there are case studies which demonstrate the way in which complaints are handled.

See Review and enforcement.