The Business Council of Australia welcomes the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee’s consideration of the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022.

This bill will substantially increase penalties and make amendments increasing the powers of both the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Changes to the Act must be considered in the context of comprehensive reforms delivered through the Privacy Act Review.

The BCA recommends the penalties regime must clearly differentiate between incidents which occur due to negligent or reckless failure by an entity to take reasonable steps and those where the entity is a victim of sophisticated, targeted, and unprecedented actions by criminal and/or state actors. For this reason, we recommend the Bill be amended to provide greater guidance for both businesses, regulators and courts on the penalties being proposed through the Bill.

We also make a number of recommendations on the new powers being provided to regulators, to ensure they are used in a way that supports privacy outcomes for all Australians.

Read the full submission here.