The recent release of the highly anticipated Government Response (Response) to the Attorney General’s Privacy Act Review Report (Report) was, after the shock of the Report published in February 2023, somewhat underwhelming, at least on the surface.
Below we note the key highlights as regards the ‘agreed’ proposed changes for which we expect legislation to be introduced during 2024 and some potential impacts of those changes that are not readily apparent from reading the Response. We also flag our predictions as to adoption, implementation and likely effects of the most impactful ‘agreed in principle’ proposed changes that we expect will be settled and adopted by the Government during 2024 and 2025.
What happened in the Response?
The Government ‘agreed’ with only 38 of the 116 proposed changes from the Report, mostly the more administrative, increasing the powers of and encouraging enforcement by the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner (OAIC) type “tweaks” to the Privacy Act. It is these 38, some have suggested ‘minor’, agreed changes which will be legislated during 2024. Another 68 of the…
