The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has released an information sheet (pdf) to assist organisations who seek to engage in electronic marketing and explaining the different purposes of the Privacy Act and the Spam Act:

"Under the Spam Act, an individual‟s consent must always be obtained for commercial electronic messages unless the message is exempt. This consent may be "express‟ or "inferred‟.

In the Privacy Act, section 6 states that consent may be "express‟ or "implied‟. Express consent is given explicitly, either orally or in writing. Implied consent is agreement that can be inferred from an individual’s conduct. In either case, the individual must actively indicate their consent to the act or practice in question. To be valid, consent must be fully informed and freely given."

The guidance materials discuss:

• the coverage of the Privacy and Spam Acts, and how they interact
• whether businesses have to get people’s consent when sending electronic marketing messages
• what businesses must tell people when marketing or sending other information by email

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has also produced a set of FAQs for consumers on spam and privacy.