Annual Report 2015–2016

In October 2015, in accordance with section 10 of the PGPA Rule, the Commonwealth Fraud Control Policy
and the Department of Finance Resource management guide No. 201, NHMRC reported fraud data to the
Australian Institute of Criminology for 2014–15. For the relevant period, NHMRC reported one internal and
four external incidents of fraud with an estimated value of $823,660.00. NHMRC subsequently recovered
$142,574.82.
Officers of NHMRC are expected to act with integrity and fairness and uphold the values of the Australian
Public Service in their dealings with the Minister and all stakeholders.
PRIVACY
PART 3 operating environment
All documents held by NHMRC containing personal information are handled in accordance with the
provisions of the Privacy Act 1988, which sets standards for the collection, storage, use and disclosure of,
and access to and correction of, that personal information.
NHMRC updated its Privacy Policy in September 2015. In accordance with clause 1.3 of Australian Privacy
Principle 1, the NHMRC Privacy Policy addresses the open and transparent management of personal
information by identifying the purposes for which NHMRC collects, holds, uses and discloses personal
information. NHMRC provides an environment in which all personal information is handled securely
and efficiently.
No reports were served on NHMRC by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OIAC) under
section 30 of the Privacy Act 1988 in 2015–16. No determinations were served on NHMRC by the OAIC
under section 52 of the Privacy Act 1988 in 2015–16.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Agencies subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) are required to publish information to the
public as part of the Information Publication Scheme (IPS). This requirement is in Part II of the FOI Act and
has replaced the former requirement to publish a section 8 statement in agency annual reports. The NHMRC
website contains the plan for the information it publishes in accordance with the IPS requirements.
Freedom of information requests
NHMRC publishes information to which access has been granted under the FOI Act in its Freedom of
Information Disclosure Log, which is available via the ‘Freedom of Information’ link on the homepage of the
NHMRC website.
96
Annual Report of the National Health and Medical Research Council 2015–2016