Liability for breaches of Privacy Act to increase, but class actions unlikely to be supported

The Australian Privacy Commissioner has signalled an intent to increase regulatory action and the Government is likely in the short term to introduce reforms to increase the penalties under Australia's privacy legislation, though it is unlikely those reforms will result in an increase in class actions.

Action in relation to Cambridge Analytica

On 9 March 2020 Australia's Privacy Commissioner commenced proceedings in the Australian Federal Court against Facebook relating to the Cambridge Analytica incident. The proceedings were commenced under section 13G of the Privacy Act > 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This section creates a civil penalty contravention where a regulated entity either does an act or undertakes a practice that is a serious interference with the privacy of an individual (section 13G(a)) or repeatedly does an act or undertakes a practice that is an interference with the privacy of one or more individuals (section 13G(b)). An act or practice will