Submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
08 January 2025
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) represents over 130 of Australia’s leading businesses. Our members include some of Australia’s largest banking, telecommunications and technology companies. We champion the role that responsible businesses play in generating sustainable economic growth and advocate for policy settings that are in the national interest.
We welcome this opportunity to provide a submission to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024.
The BCA supports modernising Australia’s privacy protection framework. Australians deserve privacy protections, and businesses should be supported to modernise, grow, and compete in an increasingly challenging global environment.
We agree that the Privacy Act 1988 (the Act) must be updated. Implementation of privacy reforms must allow industry to move forward with confidence.
The Review of the Act (the Review) between 2020 and 2023 initiated this process and identified potential reforms. The government’s response to the Review in September 2023 then made clear its intended path
forward. A number of recommendations from the Review are in the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (the Bill).
The BCA believes that the creation of a new statutory tort, requirements around automated decision making, and the expansion of the Information Commissioner’s code making powers need significant work before they are ready. These proposals should be clarified and aligned with a wider government implementation plan.
Many recommendations from the Review have been delayed to a later date. These are some of the most significant changes and will be hugely impactful. They include a changed definition of personal information, the potential removal of the small business exemption, changes to the definition of consent, changes to the employee records exemption, inclusion of a ‘fair and reasonable’ requirement, changes to the rights of the individual, and organisational accountability.
The current approach to privacy reform is fragmented. Enacting these recommendations into legislation more holistically would mean Australians are more able to benefit from the privacy protections they have been promised. It means industry would have a clearer picture of all impending legislative requirements. And it means industry would more efficiently and effectively manage all new requirements.
Australians may face increased costs due to the regulatory burden placed on industry in managing ongoing changes to their privacy obligations. Australians may stop receiving the services they have come to expect.
Legislative amendments should be accompanied by a reliable cost-benefit analysis that has been co-designed with industry.
Given the far-reaching implications of what has been proposed, government should embrace industry’s eagerness to co-design legislation.
Detail on the BCA’s positions relating to specific recommendations of the Privacy Act Review can be found here.