OAIC annual report shows increased demand

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released its annual report for 2025-26, and has reported that during the year there was a significant increase in demand.

Introducing the Annual Report 2025–26, Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said: “The significant increase in incoming matters was reflective of the importance the community places on information access and privacy. The strategies we have implemented have been demonstrably effective.

“These community contacts also provide valuable insights to drive our increasing focus on proactive regulatory activities including guidance, investigations and enforcement to secure information access and privacy rights. This proactive approach better secures the community’s right to both privacy and information access.”

In response to this engagement and demand by the community and industry the OAIC says it implemented a targeted program of case management improvements over the past two years to ensure confidence in the regulatory system and provide improved outcomes.

During the 2025-26 year the OAIC used its regulatory toolkit across education, complaint resolution, compliance and enforcement to demonstrate its mandate to be a proactive and proportionate regulator.

Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind published determinations and findings following significant investigations, including privacy breaches related to pixel tracking and unfair or unlawful collection of personal information by RentTech platforms. She also announced the first-ever privacy compliance desktop sweep targeting industries where power and information asymmetries are common.

The OAIC continued thematic investigations into four agencies’ compliance with timeliness requirements under the FOI Act. The agency also welcomed the Federal Court’s order that Australian Clinical Labs (ACL) pay civil penalties of $5.8 million following a data breach in 2022, the first order of its kind in Australia.

This year, the OAIC has again published a separate FOI volume of the Annual Report to improve accessibility of agency performance data and provide more detailed regulatory information. This volume includes the first publication of an FOI leaderboard highlighting best-practices and encouraging agencies to make continuous improvements towards compliance on key measures under the FOI Act.

The OAIC says its Annual Report highlights its evolving organisational and regulatory approach, driving activities which help the Australian community to navigate an increasingly complex digital environment.

“The OAIC’s organisational strength and integrated approach position us well to deal with the many milestones ahead in 2026–27, including future privacy reform and the implementation of the Children’s Online Privacy Code, uplifting FOI practices by agencies, and always operating in the spirit of the Commonwealth Integrity Strategy,” Tydd said.

The OIAC Annual Report 2025-26 can be found here.

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