Around 1,058 employees have been investigated since November 2006 by Medicare for unauthorized access. Half of them were found to be spying on people's personal information and 30% of them were found accessing inappropriately their own files.

"They have responsibilities at law, and they have responsibilities ethically to us, to take that care and to put those technical measures in place”, said the Australian Privacy Foundation's Roger Clarke.

According to the Medicare the number of verified cases has been decreasing but the breaches are disappointing. The Government is planning to rewrite the Privacy Act but Healthcare Identifiers Bill is at the forefront of this revamp.

The office of Curtis is busier than ever, as privacy issues have an effect on people from all walks of life and cut across public, private and community sectors.

About 45 submissions were made by the office last year regarding the privacy-related public inquiries. Late last year, Human Services Minister Chris Bowen decided to merge Medicare and Centre link back-office functions.

"We'll be working with the department on these changes. But with co-located offices, and perhaps shared staff down the track, there will be issues about information-sharing. So we need to find the right balance between providing better service and reducing costs, and removing people's right to choose how they interact with government departments", said Karen Curtis.