After two years of extensive review and consultation, the
Attorney-General's Department released its
Privacy Act Review Report (Report), yesterday,
16 February 2023.
Coming in at over 300 pages, the Report has made 116 proposals
to amend the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act)
across three broad categories – the scope and application,
protections and regulation and enforcement.
Comparisons with international regimes like the GDPR are
inevitable and, if implemented, these changes may well lead to a
realistic push for 'adequacy' for Australia for the
purposes of relevant overseas regimes, opening up the possibility
of easier cross-border transfers both inbound and outbound.
We will provide more detailed analysis in the coming days, but
some high points to note are:
