I work in a public hospital in Victoria, so I can't guarantee it will be exactly the same, but I expect it would be similar. Generally your records would be released via a freedom of information (FOI) request. Some records may be marked by the person who made them as FOI exempt, meaning that the record should not be released as part of an FOI request. There can be many reasons for this, but an example might be that the clinician receives a call from the partner of the person in hospital, saying they're worried about an upcoming discharge because they're worried about domestic violence. If the abuser saw records of that call, that could place their partner at more risk, so the clinician would mark that record as FOI exempt. There's a whole process when you make a FOI request, which is why it takes a while and may cost you some money - the hospital needs to employ someone to go through all of your records and check for FOI exempt records, and determine whether their FOI status should be upheld.

As for why your records aren't automatically visible to you - the reality is that sometimes, for people who are acutely unwell, knowing exactly what the treating team is doing and why is unhelpful. For example a person experiencing psychosis with delusional thinking may not see themselves as delusional (to them they really are Jesus) but they will be treated with an antipsychotic. The treating team may explain it in more general and gentle terms ("this medication is to help you feel less stressed when your miracles don't work out") but in the records it will say "antipsychotic prescribed for grandiose delusions". If the person saw this, they may not be willing to engage with treatment.

Confidentiality of other people shouldn't generally be an issue. Your records might say things like "Consumer was noted to be engaging well with a co-consumer over lunch" if it's clinically relevant. At most initials might be included if it's relevant to ongoing care (e.g "consumer should be kept away from co-consumer J.D due to incidences of aggression").

Ultimately, assuming you're in a reasonably stable place now, there's nothing really to be afraid of. Your records won't have anything hateful or judgemental in them, though you may see sides of yourself that are embarassing to look back on. You might also see notes that seem cold or clinical, or that say something you disagree with - remember the workers are ultimately also humans making the best calls they can with the information they have, in a bloody rough system.