On 25th March 2019, the Federal Government announced plans to reform existing privacy laws and penalties in order to better protect Australian citizens and their personal information online. The joint media release from Attorney-General Hon. Christian Porter MP and the Minister for Communications and the Arts Hon. Mitch Fifield stated that “[e]xisting protections and penalties for misuse of Australians’ personal information under the Privacy Act fall short of community expectations”.
The proposed amendments would aim to protect Australians online, specifically children, and impose harsher penalties for misuse of personal information, particularly by social media and online platforms. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioners (OAIC), Australia’s privacy regulator, would also be provided with an additional $25 million over three years to provide resources for investigating and responding to breaches of privacy, as well as overseeing online privacy rules.
The proposed amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) are as follows:
Draft legislation is planned for the latter half of 2019. The implementation of this new privacy regime may be dependent on the result of the upcoming federal election on the 18th May.