This Act establishes a data sharing scheme under which Commonwealth bodies are authorised to share their public sector data with accredited users, and accredited users are authorised to collect and use the data, in a controlled way.

The sharing, collection and use of data must be part of a project that is for one or more of the defined data sharing purposes, and must be done consistently with the data sharing principles and under a registered data sharing agreement that meets the requirements of this Act. Privacy protections apply to the sharing of personal information.

Data may be shared directly with an accredited user, or through an intermediary accredited for the purpose (called an ADSP, short for accredited data service provider).

The National Data Commissioner is the regulator of the data sharing scheme and also has the function of providing education and support in relation to handling public sector data.

The Commissioner's regulatory functions include accrediting ADSPs and users other than Commonwealth, State and Territory bodies. The Minister has the function of accrediting such bodies as users.

The Commissioner also has functions relating to handling complaints and powers to require information and to assess, monitor and investigate data scheme entities.

Data scheme entities have responsibilities under the Act. A range of enforcement options are available to the Commissioner.

This Act mainly relies for its constitutional basis on the matters set out in subsection   13(4) (constitutional requirements for authorisation for data custodian to share public sector data) (but see also subsections   42(2) and 61(2)).