Western Australia has banned them. Victoria will from next year. Most other jurisdictions are still deciding. For many Catholic and independent schools, whether smart glasses belong on campus is, for now, a question they must answer for themselves.
Smart glasses have moved quickly from novelty to mainstream. Meta says it has sold more than seven million pairs of its Ray-Ban smart glasses, and Kmart’s $89 Anko pair quickly sold out before the retailer withdrew it from online sale in October. Most look like ordinary eyewear, yet they can take photos, record video and audio and, in some cases, livestream–often with little more than a small light to signal they’re in use.
That combination has prompted a wave of responses. Councils have restricted the glasses at pools and leisure centres, the federal government is considering whether to ban them in Commonwealth workplaces and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has opened a formal investigation into Shenzhen Qingcheng, the company behind HeyCyan, an app used with many budget-priced glasses. In education, two states have now moved to ban the devices in schools, and others are considering their options.
This article takes a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction look at where things stand, what that means for non-government schools in particular, and what all schools can do now.
When Western Australia announced its ban, its instruction to principals named six risks:
That last risk shows how differently WA is thinking about the devices. Its definition doesn’t stop at cameras–it also covers features such as artificial intelligence, livestreaming, internet access, facial recognition and the ability to look up information or communicate with others. Defining the devices by what they can do, rather than by brand or product type, is an approach any school reviewing its own policy could borrow.
Security is a further concern. An ABC News investigation into low-cost smart glasses found more than a dozen security weaknesses, including that a nearby attacker could connect to some glasses over Bluetooth alone without a password and then access and copy stored photos and videos.
Existing law offers only partial protection. As the Privacy Commissioner has pointed out, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) regulates organisations and Commonwealth agencies rather than individuals, meaning it has little to say about a visitor recording students at a sports carnival. State and territory surveillance and listening devices laws generally prohibit recording private conversations without consent, but they differ between jurisdictions and are difficult to enforce when it’s hard to tell a device is recording at all. Rules set by school systems and individual schools are therefore doing much of the practical work.
Western Australia was first to act and has gone furthest. From 12 October 2026, the first day of Term 4, students, staff, parents, carers, visitors and contractors are banned from wearing, using or storing smart glasses at all WA public schools. Education Minister Sabine Winton described it as the nation’s most comprehensive ban.
Issued by Director General Jay Peckitt as a CEO Instruction under section 233 of the School Education Act 1999 (WA), the ban is backed by legislation and a few features stand out:
Interestingly, the ban wasn’t a response to problems in WA classrooms. The minister said the department had no recorded cases of the glasses being misused in its schools and framed the move as preventive. The head of the WA Principals Federation welcomed the move, saying that until now principals had been left to develop their own school-level rules.
For non-government schools: the minister urged private and independent schools to also ban the devices, but the CEO Instruction doesn’t bind them.
Beyond the school gate: in Perth, the City of Vincent has ordered a report on the issue.
Victoria announced its ban on 21 October, in two layers. Under the first, starting with the 2027 school year, students in every Victorian school–government, Catholic and independent– will need to keep smart glasses and other personal devices turned off and put away while at school or taking part in a school activity. This builds on an earlier extension of the state’s device ban to smartwatches and headphones from 2027, which Catholic and independent schools asked to be included in.
The second applies only to government schools, and goes further. Adults, including teachers, parents and volunteers, won’t be able to wear smart glasses or other covert filming devices anywhere on school grounds or at off-site school activities such as camps and excursions. Unlike the student rule, it isn’t limited to school hours, and government school students will be bound by it, too.
The only exemption is for people with disability, and only where the glasses are needed as a reasonable adjustment that can’t be met another way. Deputy Premier and Education Minister Gabrielle Williams said, “smart glasses have no place in our classrooms or on school grounds”.
For non-government schools: students are covered from 2027, but the adult ban isn’t. The government has said that, if re-elected, it will extend the adult ban to non-government schools through legislation. Until then, whether staff, parents and visitors can wear smart glasses at a Catholic or independent school remains a matter for each school.
Beyond the school gate: an ABC survey found 16 of Victoria’s 79 local authorities were investigating or introducing restrictions at community facilities (including swimming pools, childcare centres, playgrounds and recreation centres), and the Municipal Association of Victoria has called for a nationally consistent approach.
The ACT Government has confirmed it is working on a plan that would keep smart glasses out of public schools and pools. It is seeking urgent advice about the devices in government-owned facilities and has said a ban is among the options. The details, including whether any ban would extend to adults or off-site activities, are not yet known.
Beyond the school gate: the ACT’s public pools legislation already gives operators a way to remove people who photograph others without consent or use a recording device in bathrooms and change rooms.
At the time of writing, the NSW Government had not announced a statewide ban on smart glasses in schools. NSW public schools already require mobile phones and other listed devices to be off and away during the day, but those rules don’t specifically name smart glasses.
Early childhood services are in a different position. Since 27 February 2026, national rules have restricted the use of personal devices in early childhood education and care, and NSW applies additional, stronger restrictions on top of these (see “The national picture” below).
Beyond the school gate: Sydney councils have been among the most active in the country on their own facilities. Canterbury-Bankstown has banned smart glasses from its five leisure and aquatic centres, with staff able to require their removal; Randwick has restricted them at its Des Renford Leisure Centre; the City of Sydney has voted to revise entry conditions at its leisure centres, libraries, childcare centres and community centres; and Inner West Council has voted to keep the glasses out of facilities ranging from pools and change rooms to childcare centres and public toilets. Each includes, or proposes, exemptions for people who use the glasses as an accessibility aid.
We’re not aware of any announcement specific to SA schools. South Australia is reviewing whether its existing laws go far enough. Attorney-General Kyam Maher has requested advice on the issue and is working with his federal counterpart on a possible national approach. Separately, SA Greens leader Robert Simms has said he is preparing a private member’s bill that would ban smart glasses in schools, as well as near playgrounds and in gyms and swimming pools. As a minor-party bill, it doesn’t reflect a government position, but it does put schools on the agenda in South Australian parliament.
Beyond the school gate: Adelaide City Council has been debating whether to ban smart glasses in some of the city’s major precincts.
It’s a similar situation in Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Schools in these jurisdictions should check whether existing mobile phone and wearable device rules are worded broadly enough to capture smart glasses. For example, a policy that restricts “mobile phones and smartwatches” may not clearly extend to a pair of glasses that records video and syncs it to a phone later. A rule covering “any personal device capable of recording images or audio” would leave far less room for argument.
Beyond the school gate: At Brisbane City Council’s 21 public pools, filming or photographing people without their consent is now banned, whether with smart glasses, a phone or any other camera-enabled device. Unlike some other councils, Brisbane targets recording without consent rather than wearing the glasses. Both Queensland and Tasmania already have laws against covert recording. In Queensland, it’s an offence to film people without consent where they’d expect privacy, and in Tasmania it’s an offence to record a private conversation without everyone’s agreement.
There are no national rules on smart glasses in schools, but there are for early childhood education and care services, such as childcare centres, preschools and outside school hours care. National changes that took effect on 27 February 2026 restrict personal devices capable of capturing, storing or transmitting images in education and care services, and official guidance expressly names smart glasses. Staff and volunteers in centre-based services generally can’t use or possess personal devices while working directly with children. That matters for schools that run early learning centres or outside school hours care.
More broadly, federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has ruled out an import ban, pointing instead to the draft Tranche 2 privacy reforms. The Privacy Commissioner expects those reforms to make it harder for companies to justify collecting information through smart glasses, partly through a new ‘fair and reasonable’ test that would require them to weigh the best interests of any children involved. The reforms would apply to the companies collecting the information, however–not to the person wearing the glasses.
For non-government schools, the picture is patchy. At the time of writing:
Whether or not a government ban applies, schools may wish to consider the following questions.
Many policies list phones, smartwatches and earbuds by name. A definition based on capability–recording, livestreaming, connectivity and artificial intelligence features–is more likely to keep pace with new products than a list of devices. Schools should also consider whether the policy covers storing and charging devices, not just using them.
Student device policies rarely reach staff, parents or visitors. Schools should consider how any restriction on adults would be communicated and enforced, for example through:
Camps, excursions, sport and performances are often where students are most exposed to recording by others. Both the WA and Victorian bans expressly cover off-site school activities.
For some people, smart glasses are genuine assistive technology– e.g. describing surroundings for people who are blind or have low vision, or captioning speech for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Schools have obligations to make reasonable adjustments for students with disability, so a clear exemption process (who decides, on what evidence and on what conditions) will help schools apply any restriction fairly. Schools may also need to plan for the practical case of a student or staff member whose only prescription glasses are a smart pair.
Glasses that can retrieve information or communicate with others raise the same concerns as phones in exams and assessments, but are much harder to spot. Assessment and examination rules should be reviewed accordingly.
As with any new rule, families and staff are more likely to support it if they understand why it exists. Communications should explain what devices are covered, where and when the rule applies, and how exemptions work.
Government responses to smart glasses are arriving quickly but unevenly. Public schools in Western Australia are already covered, Victorian schools will be from next year and the ACT is not far behind. For most non-government schools, though–and for adults on almost every school site–the rules are whatever the school itself has put in place.
Schools needn’t wait for legislation. Reviewing device policies, visitor arrangements and exemption processes now can ensure that, whatever governments decide, the school’s own position is clear.
Useful resources include:
(As this goes to print, the ACT is finalising its approach and the extension of Victoria’s adult ban to non-government schools depends on legislation after the state election. Expect other jurisdictions to follow. Watch this space.)