Written by John Pane, EFA Chair.
The Albanese Government is considering (finally!!!) a further package of reforms as the next stage of uplifting Australia’s privacy laws, following the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth).
The package includes the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 (Bill), which contains draft provisions for a range of proposed reforms to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). The package further includes roughly 40 proposals, including some that were proposals from the Privacy Act Review and some additional proposals:
- 25 Privacy Act Review proposals that uplift privacy protections including:
- 5 Privacy Act Review proposals that are designed to clarify and simplify obligations
- 4 additional measures to further simplify current obligations, and
- 7 additional measures to improve the efficiency of the privacy regulator, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
In addition to the measures included in the Bill, the consultation sought feedback on proposed measures under development to:
- Support the more efficient administration and enforcement of the Privacy Act by the OAIC
- Address privacy issues arising from emerging technologies, including wearable surveillance technologies (such as smart glasses and ear buds) and connected vehicles.
Sounds good, right? This should fix the gaps in the Privacy Act and wrangle Big Tech into necessary compliance with human rights framed privacy law? Errr, no. Not really.
Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) and the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) are long term allies. We have partnered and made a joint submission to the Attorney General in respect of the Bill.
EFA and the APF have numerous substantive concerns and issues concerning the Bill; more about what it does not say than what it does say. The Bill has major omissions (including historical policy flaws going back some 20+ years) and the speed with which the government is trying to push this legislation through (Remember the debacle that was the passage of the Social Media Minimum Age Bill in the last sitting week of parliament back in 2024?). Here too, the government appears to be stifling examination and public debate by providing limited time for drafting submissions (18 days) and placing a 1,000 word cap (around 2.5 A4 pages) on submissions.
Both EFA and the APF feel that given the importance and criticality of getting privacy reform right and how we have each lobbied for better privacy law reforms for around 25 years, we feel compelled to ensure our detailed views are made available to the public and placed on the record in to, notwithstanding the coercive control displayed in the Attorney General’s submission guidelines.
Australians need a Privacy Act that embraces human rights and rejects the normalisation and democratisation of “surveillance as a service” and “data extraction as a life state” by Big Tech, Big Business and Silicon Valley oligarchs. This is a golden opportunity for today’s government to fix the policy and regulatory privacy missteps of the past 25 years and meet its obligations under its social contract with the Australian people.
It’s a start, but it’s not good enough. We need to do more.
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Photo credit: Sasun Bughdaryan