Our office is proud of the work we do in the area of dispute resolution. Where it is appropriate, we try and bring complainants and respondents together, in person or by phone, to resolve privacy disputes. Last year, we closed 827 complaint files and of these, nearly half were achieved with a settlement between the parties involved.

Updated by our Guidance team in March 2025.

The Wellington High Court's decision to classify Nicky Hager as a journalist in relation to the publication of Dirty Politics, and therefore entitled to assert privilege under s.68 of the Evidence Act 2006 echoes our Office’s decision to do the same, in a complaint made against him by blogger Cameron Slater. This is important because the Privacy Act only applies to agencies – and the definition of “agency” excludes “ in relation to its news activities, any news medium.”  Journalists working in their capacity in the news media do not come under my office’s remit. 

So you are hiring. What do you need to do to meet your privacy obligations? Here’s an easy checklist of do’s and don’ts. They all relate back to the 12 privacy principles that guide the collection, use, storage and disposal of personal information.   

What happens when an agency’s record of your identity conflicts with who you actually are? This is the question we grappled with in an Immigration New Zealand (INZ) case that we recently referred to the Director of Human Rights Proceedings.

We’ve been grappling with a difficult question recently, and one that’s featured in New Zealand’s courts too. What is and isn’t news media and when should the Privacy Act apply?

Did you know that not everyone has to have their details published on the electoral roll? This makes sense if you and your family members could face a personal risk if your information was accessible to people who may want to cause you harm.