For the purposes of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable (section 6, Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)).

Information or an opinion can be personal information whether or not it is true and whether or not it is recorded in a material form. Examples include a person's name, address, email address, telephone number, date of birth, signature, customer records, bank account details, health information or any commentary or opinion about a person.

For the purposes of the Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contact Information) Act 2020 (Cth) (Privacy Amendment Act), personal information also includes data relating to a person that has been collected or generated through the operation of the COVIDSafe app (section 94Q of the Privacy Amendment Act). For further information, see Legal update, Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contact Information) Act 2020: Privacy protections for data collected through the Commonwealth COVIDSafe app.

For further information, see Practice note, Key concepts in privacy law: Personal information.