In regard to the electronic health record system, Dr. Magnusson said some failures of the system could threaten public trust in the system improving an individual's health.

"The failure to allow partitioning of sensitive health information, the lack of controls on authorized users, and failure to pilot both opt-in as well as opt-out systems could threaten public trust in what could be an immensely valuable tool for improving both individual and population health," Magnusson said.

The People's Choice award was given to former Human Services Minister Joe Hockey for the Australian Access Card, for the refusal to release the official privacy impact assessment, as well as rejections made to recommendations from the Consumer and Privacy Task Force.

Judge Dean Wilson said the entire Access Card project had been a "relentless campaign of disinformation and doublespeak."

The runner-up award for Best Privacy Guardian went to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for prosecution of company Clarity 1 under the 2003 Spam Act (October 2006) where the company was fined a total of A$5.5 million (US$4.3 million). Clarity was found guilty of sending more than 280 million unsolicited e-mails.