The New Commonwealth Bill Seeking to Force Companies to Put
Consumers' Interests First
In the aftermath of recent major data breaches causing
unprecedented amounts of private information being stolen, the
Commonwealth Government has tabled The Privacy Legislation
Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 (the Bill) to
force companies to better protect their clients' /
consumers' personal data.
The Bill, if passed, is the current Government's way of
sending a clear message to any entity that retains consumer data,
that they owe an obligation to their consumers and that privacy,
security and data protection must be taken seriously.
Under the current regime, companies that fail to sufficiently
protect client and consumer data could face up to $2.22 million in
fines for serious or repeated data breaches. While for many these
fines are a substantial motivator to prevent data breaches, the
increasingly burdensome costs of maintaining secure,
