Another Push for an Australian Privacy Tort: Context, Evaluation and Prospects

Abstract

In 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) proposed a statutory privacy tort in the form recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2014. Although both Commissions made their proposals in different contexts, their respective calls respond to the common threat that the rise of modern data-driven technology poses for privacy. The Government response to the ACCC reform proposal announced that the recommendation would be further examined as part of a review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and related laws. Responding to this renewed attention given to Australian privacy law reform, this article contextualises and evaluates the ACCC and AHRC proposals for a statutory privacy tort in Australia and assesses the prospects of legislative action.

Keywords: privacy law, tort law, Australian law, media privacy, tort of privacy

JEL Classification: K13