Privacy Act Review Report signals paradigm shift - Key things your business needs to know

Australia’s Attorney-General has today released the Privacy Act Review Report. The Report follows a two-year review of Australia’s outdated privacy laws and contains over 110 proposals which are designed to better align Australia’s laws with global standards of privacy protection and give individuals more control over their personal information. If implemented, the changes will have significant impact on existing privacy practices.

Given that the Report contains proposals which are new or have been reworked since the 2021 Discussion Paper, the Government is now undertaking further consultation.

Entities who do business in Australia are encouraged to carefully consider the impact of these proposals on their privacy practices so that practical implications can be raised and planned for before draft legislation is finalised by the Government. Feedback on the Report is due on 31 March 2023.

Key Proposals

Key proposals in the Report include:

• the introduction of a controller/processor distinction;
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