Defence Privacy Policy - Overview

The Defence Privacy Policy (PDF, 448 KB) is designed to inform individuals about the way Defence collects, stores, uses and discloses personal information. This policy also provides guidance about how you can access, or seek correction of, personal information held by Defence.

The Defence Privacy Policy is relevant to individuals who interact with, or are considering interacting with, Defence. For more information on who should read the Defence Privacy Policy, please refer to the Defence Privacy Policy (PDF, 448KB).

Defence Website Privacy Statement

Visiting our website

When you access the Department of Defence's web servers, the following information is logged:

  • the visitor's machine unique Internet Protocol (IP) address
  • the visitor's domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk, etc.)
  • the date and time of the visit to the site
  • the pages accessed and documents downloaded
  • the previous site visited
  • the type of website browser used.

This information is primarily used for statistical purposes. However, this information may also be disclosed to an Australian Federal, State or Territory investigative authority to support investigations.

Sending us emails

When you send Defence an email, our email servers will collect and hold your email address and the content of the email for the purpose of responding to your enquiry and, where necessary, taking subsequent action. Your email address will not be added to a mailing list unless supplied for that reason. If you fail to provide all relevant information in your email, Defence's ability to respond to your enquiry will be limited.

Privacy Impact Assessment Register

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a systematic assessment of a project that identifies the impact that the project might have on the privacy of individuals, and sets out recommendations for managing, minimising or eliminating that impact.

Defence as a Commonwealth agency has an obligation to conduct a PIA for all high privacy risk projects. Conducting a PIA helps Defence to ensure privacy compliance and identify better practice within the organisation

Defence is also obligated to maintain a register of PIAs. it conducts and publishes a version of the register on the departmental website.

Further information

For information about how you can apply for access to, seek a correction of personal information held by Defence, or make a complaint about how Defence has managed your personal information, please refer to the Defence Privacy Policy (PDF, 448KB).

Questions regarding the Defence Privacy Policy, or privacy within Defence, should be emailed to defence.privacy@defence.gov.au or sent via regular mail to:

Defence Privacy
BP35-1-065
PO Box 792
Canberra BC ACT 2610

For information on how Defence Privacy generally collects, stores, uses and discloses personal information, please refer to the Defence Privacy - Privacy Notice.