How does the Privacy Act deal with children and teenagers?

Children have the same rights as anyone else to request their information, authorise collection of their information or complain about the disclosure of their information.

However, there can obviously be issues with taking this approach when dealing with very young children who simply aren’t able to act on their own behalf. In those kinds of cases we recommend agencies take a practical approach and consider whether the child’s parent/s or guardian/s are acting as the child’s representative.

There is a specific withholding ground which allows an agency to refuse a request for information made by, or on behalf of a child under the age of 16, where the release of the information would be contrary to that child’s interests.

There is also a provision in the Health Information Privacy Code 2020 that allows parents and guardians to request their child's health information, if the child is under 16. However, this is not an absolute right, as some extra withholding grounds will apply to this kind of request (see more here). This only applies to health information held by a health agency, there is no equivalent right in the Privacy Act for a parent to request their child's personal information. Principle 4 of the Privacy Act requires that agencies take particular care when they are collecting information from children and that they do so in a way that is fair and reasonable.