Standards compliance

PrivateHealth.gov.au has been designed with standards in mind - from both technical and legal perspectives.

Accessibility standards

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0

This site has been designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) where possible.

Some pages on the site meet all Priority 1, 2 and 3 checkpoints, with some meeting all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints only. We intend to further improve accessibility over time.

Legislative requirements

Disability Discrimination Act

PrivateHealth.gov.au uses Web standards and is designed to maximise accessibility in line with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act.

Privacy Act

The Privacy Act sets out clear guidelines on how Web sites must protect the privacy of users. Our privacy policy has more details.

Spam Act

PrivateHealth.gov.au is exempt from the requirements of the Spam Act, as it is a government Web site.

We still meet the core requirements by:

  • Obtaining your consent to send you email messages
  • Clearly identifying messages from PrivateHealth.gov.au

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has more information on the Spam Act.

Web standards

XHTML 1.0 Strict

eXtensible HyperText Mark-up Language (XHTML 1.0) is a new standard in Web delivery, aimed at replacing the original HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML). XHTML is a hybrid of XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) and HTML 4.0.

XHTML 1.0 Strict provides for clear separation of presentation and structure, making maintenance of Web pages easier and helping to minimise the download time for pages on the site. It also provides better browser compatibility and accessibility for all users.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Level 3

Cascading Style Sheets are used on the PrivateHealth.gov.au Web site to apply styles to XHTML documents. Style sheets are designed to provide a consistent look throughout the entire site, and separate the presentation of content from its structure. Additionally, they help minimise the download time for pages on the site.

Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)

The Platform for Privacy Preferencess is used by PrivateHealth.gov.au to represent our privacy policy in a format that your Web browser can understand. This allows your browser to make decisions on your behalf - for example, whether to accept cookies from this Web site. It also makes it easier to find out information on our approach to privacy when using standards-compliant Web browsers.

Recommended browsers

We recommend you use a browser that supports Web standards.

PrivateHealth.gov.au has been tested with the following browsers which support numerous Web standards including CSS, XHTML, and the DOM (a universal means of controlling the behavior of Web pages):

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of browsers that support Web standards, nor a test of browser compliance, nor a side-by-side comparison of various manufacturers’ browsers.

Older browsers can still be used to access the site, but are not recommended.