We made a submission to the Attorney-General’s Department in response to the exposure draft of the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 (Cth) (the Exposure Draft Bill) and accompanying Consultation Paper.
This follows our previous submissions throughout the Government’s lengthy review process examining the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) in 2020, 2021 and 2023, and our submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (Cth) (2024 Bill) in 2024.
Our submission supports implementing important reforms that were not enacted through the 2024 Bill, including the introduction of:
- an objective ‘fair and reasonable’ test for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information; and
- modernised definitions of ‘personal information’, ‘collect’ and ‘consent’.
We welcome reforms to strengthen the Office of Australian Information Commissioner’s complaint-handling, investigation and representative complaint powers. However, we continue to call for a direct right of action for individuals to pursue breaches of the Privacy Act.
We also highlight risks of particular technologies like facial recognition and support the introduction of dedicated regulations to address this.
