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ARTICLE · 10 SEPTEMBER 2026

Privacy Reform Is Coming: Why Organisations Should Uplift Their Privacy Framework Now

Holding Redlich
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The Australian government has released an exposure draft of the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026, introducing sweeping changes to privacy law including broader definitions of personal information, codified consent standards, and a new 72-hour data breach notification requirement. With reforms touching everything from geolocation data to erasure rights, organisations face a compressed timeline to uplift their privacy frameworks before these provisions become law.

AustraliaPrivacy
Lyn Nicholson
Lyn Nicholson
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The Attorney-General has released an exposure draft of the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 (Bill), proposing the most significant changes to the Privacy Act 1988 since the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) were introduced.

The draft touches core definitions, the APPs, the notifiable data breach scheme, data security, and rights of access and erasure. Even if only part of the Bill proceeds through Parliament in its current form, organisations should treat it as a clear signal to review and strengthen their privacy policies, procedures and risk management framework now.

A broader, more demanding definition of personal information

The Bill replaces the current definition of personal information with a standalone provision confirming that an individual is "reasonably identifiable" if they could be identified by combining information with other information that is reasonably available, and expressly lists location data, pseudonyms, identifiers, and behavioural

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This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.

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