Can I request someone else's information?
Under the Privacy Act, the only information you are entitled to request is information about you.
While agencies may disclose personal information where an exception under principle 11 applies, this is completely discretionary. In other words, the agency doesn’t have to disclose someone else’s personal information to you if it doesn’t want to, regardless of whether it could rely on an exception under principle 11.
If the information is held by a public sector agency, the Official Information Act may apply (or the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act for local bodies). You could ask for the information under that Act. However, privacy is a good reason for declining the an official information request unless there’s a strong enough public interest to outweigh the privacy concerns.
However, if you are representing someone or have Power of Attorney or Enduring Power of Attorney for someone, you are considered to be acting on their behalf. You can also act on a behalf of a family member to request their personal information if you have their written authority to do so. So if you ask for that person’s information, the agency needs to respond as if that person was asking for their information directly.
When an access request is being made by a representative acting for an individual, the agency should ensure that the representative has the written authority of the individual to obtain the information. This can be done in a letter or email. The agency may need to take extra steps to confirm authority depending on the sensitivity of the information or the circumstances of the request.
It is also important to note in circumstances of parents representing their children, the Privacy Act does not provide parents or guardians with a general right to request their child's personal information (if you want to request your child's health information, this is dealt with a bit differently(external link)). But if the child is either too young to act on their own behalf, or where the child has consented, a parent or guardian can request information.