Australia Post's online tracking company may have publicly disclosed the contents and, in some cases, recipients of sensitive mail, including packages described as firearms, prescription drugs and sex toys.



BuzzFeed News can reveal that a flaw in StarTrack's online tracking system allows members of the public to search mail deliveries by descriptions that at times disclose the contents of a mail delivery.

After being alerted to the flaw by BuzzFeed News, Australia Post contacted Australia's privacy watchdog.



The flaw means that any customer could, instead of searching for their tracking number, search for a keyword and it will display all items tagged by a sender using that descriptive phrase.

Information such as the item description, suburb location and recipient of the package could then be visible.



The revelations have emerged at a time of heightened public scrutiny of the integrity of Australia's mailing system as millions of forms are sent out around the country as part of the same-sex marriage postal survey.



A spokeswoman for Australia Post, which owns StarTrack, said it had moved to restrict access to customer information as soon as it was informed by BuzzFeed News of the issue and had contacted the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.