The national Minister for Home Affairs has announced that the Government will "seek the views of the public on introducing a right to privacy in Australia".
His media release states that -
A public issues paper will be issued shortly, canvassing the prospect of introducing a statutory cause of action for serious invasions of privacy.It's a shame that the travails of News Corp and its competitors has been required to elicit action by the Government. No reference to Medvet or other recent Australian incidents, of course.
"Right now there is no general right to privacy in Australia, and that means there's no certainty for anyone wanting to sue for an invasion of their privacy," Mr O’Connor said.
"The News of the World scandal and other recent mass breaches of privacy, both at home and abroad, have put the spotlight on whether there should be such a right."
The Minister's media release goes on -
"This Government strongly believes in the principle of freedom of expression and also the right to privacy. Any changes to our laws will have to strike a balance between the two ideals."At the moment there is no common law tort of breach of privacy, although the High Court in Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meats Pty Ltd [2001] HCA 63; (2001) 185 ALR did not rule out the future development of such a tort.
"We know that privacy is a growing concern for everyday Australians – whether it is in our dealings with individuals, businesses, government agencies or the media," he said.
“Privacy is emerging as a defining issue of the modern era, especially as new technology provides more opportunities for communication, but also new challenges to privacy.”
“I’m keen to hear from everyone with a stake in the privacy debate – that includes individuals, businesses and of course the media,” Mr O’Connor said.
The Australian Law Reform Commission’s 2008 report into privacy laws made 295 recommendations for changes to privacy regulation and policy, including a proposal to introduce a statutory cause of action for serious breaches of privacy.
It is important to note that there are laws in place to deal with criminal offending related to privacy breaches, for example the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act outlaws phone tapping and other misuse of communications services.
An issues paper will be issued soon and a period of public consultation will follow.
Various law reform bodies have recommended establishment of a statutory cause of action. The Australian Law Reform Commission's 2008 For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law & Practice (ALRC Report 108) recommended a tort (r 74). The Victorian Law Reform Commission in its 2010 Surveillance in Public Places – Final Report (report 18) 150 and New South Wales Law Reform Commission 2009 Invasion of Privacy (report 120) 4.11 recommended establishment of a tort.
ABC Radio reports -
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: All we've done in this instance is bring those matters forward because we think there needs to be, now, proper debate about whether we've struck the right balance between two very important ideals: the freedom of expression and freedom of the press on one hand, and the right for a private life; the right to privacy.Turnbull is quoted as commenting, most acutely, that -
NAOMI WOODLEY: But the Government already has telephone intercept laws in place, if phone hacking was going on in Australia - and there's no evidence that it has been - there are laws to deal with it. So isn't it a bit dangerous to link this to the News of the World scandal in the UK?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Well I think it's created a public expectation that the Government consider these matters. And we're not suggesting that the gross invasions of privacy that have occurred in the United Kingdom in this recent scandal are happening here. And yes, we do have some criminal sanctions in place in order to penalise organisations or people who invade people's privacy in that manner. But there is no general right to privacy in this country.
NAOMI WOODLEY: The Opposition's communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, says the debate about a statutory right to privacy is needed, but it shouldn't be linked to events in the UK.
We really do need to make sure than any discussion doesn't just become a sort of antipodean rerun of the News of the World inquiries in the UK. This has got to - if we're going to look at privacy we should look right across all media and have an honest debate: how much privacy do we believe we are entitled to and to what extent should that limit the right of the media to free speech and freedom of the media?
