At the end of December last year, the Attorney-General announced a review of Australia’s Privacy Act to determine to what extent it is protecting and empowering consumers and best serving the Australian economy.

The AG’s Department is now accepting submissions from interested parties which should be returned to [email protected] by 29/11/2020.

Terms of reference and coverage of the issues concerned can be found at https://www.ag.gov.au/system/files/2020-10/privacy-act-review–issues-paper-october-2020.pdf but, briefly, the review covers the following:

• the scope and application of the Privacy Act
• whether the Privacy Act effectively protects personal information and provides a practical and proportionate framework for promoting good privacy practices
• whether individuals should have direct rights of action to enforce privacy obligations under the Privacy Act
• whether a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy should be introduced into Australian law
• the impact of the notifiable data breach scheme and its effectiveness in meeting its objectives
• the effectiveness of enforcement powers and mechanisms under the Privacy Act and how they interact with other Commonwealth regulatory frameworks
• the desirability and feasibility of an independent certification scheme to monitor and demonstrate compliance with Australian privacy laws.