Australian Privacy Law Reform – The Wait Is (Almost!) Over

The long-awaited privacy reform has finally been introduced into the Australian Parliament today with the introduction of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024. Described as 'Tranche 1' of the reforms, the Bill introduces significant uplifts to several aspects of Australia's privacy laws.

The proposed changes include:

• The long-touted statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy;
• As we predicted, new 'tiered' penalty provisions which will apply as soon as the law comes into force, allowing the Commissioner to issue infringement notices of up to AU$66,000 for specific breaches of the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), including:
  • Not having a privacy policy, or not having a fully compliant privacy policy;