Australian govt opens consultation on privacy reform

The Australian Government has released a Consultation Paper and Exposure Draft legislation to modernise and strengthen Australia’s privacy laws for the digital age.

The package of reform includes the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 (Bill), which contains draft provisions for a range of proposed reforms to the Privacy Act 1988.

The reforms include roughly 40 proposals, including some that were proposals from the Privacy Act Review and some additional proposals.

This comprises of 25 Privacy Act Review proposals that uplift privacy protections; 5 Privacy Act Review proposals that are designed to clarify and simplify obligations; 4 additional measures to further simplify current obligations, and; and 7 additional measures to improve the efficiency of the privacy regulator (the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

These include modernising and clarifying core definitions, including personal information, sensitive information, de-identified, collects, consent, and disclosure; simplifying and strengthening requirements for the handling of personal information; and strengthening and clarifying requirements for data security and minimisation, and responses to data breaches.

It also includes introducing a right for individuals to request the erasure of personal information held by large digital platforms, and an exception where compliance is technically impossible or
infeasible, as well as reducing unnecessary and confusing obligations for processors of personal information.

In addition to the measures included in the Bill, the consultation seeks feedback on proposed
measures under development to support the more efficient administration and enforcement of the Privacy Act by the OAIC and address privacy issues arising from emerging technologies, including wearable surveillance technologies (such as smart glasses and ear buds) and connected vehicles.

The Bill has been developed in response to feedback received during extensive consultation over several years. This includes feedback received through the Privacy Act Review process and the 2024 reforms to the Privacy Act, with about 900 written submissions received across the process.

The Bill remains subject to further consideration by government, but industry feedback will inform what the government considers when finalising reforms as the government seeks viewpoints on how the measures in the Bill might operate in practice.

The government welcome feedback from all interested stakeholders, including regulated entities, non-government organisations, industry consumer organisations, legal experts, privacy advocates, academia and individuals

Submissions need to be submitted by Friday 18 September 2026.