Australians worried about the misuse of their personal information are lodging growing numbers of privacy complaints against financial institutions, health providers and the federal government.
Angelene Falk, who is acting as both privacy commissioner and information commissioner, says people are increasingly concerned about information held on them.
There have been 2157 privacy complaints to Ms Falk's office so far this financial year, a 13 per cent annual increase.
More people are also demanding intervention in "freedom of information" decisions.
Ms Falk's team has received 586 requests to review freedom of information decisions over the past nine months, a 20 per cent increase on the same time the previous year.
The significant FOI spike this year adds to a 24 per cent increase in 2016-17.
"The sectors where we receive our complaints and applications for review remain steady," Ms Falk told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Thursday.
"I would say there's been an increase of community awareness both of privacy rights and also their access to information rights."
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has 75 full-time equivalent staff.
Five of these workers now handle complaints stemming from a new notifiable data breaches scheme, but the office did not receive any additional funding for the extra workload.
TOP FIVE SECTORS COMPLAINED ABOUT IN RELATION TO PRIVACY:
1. Finance
2. Health service providers
3. Australian government
4. Telecommunications
5. Credit-reporting bodies
