New South Wales privacy law to be reviewed

Less than three months after the federal Attorney-General’s announcement of the Australian Law Reform Commission’s sweeping review of privacy law, the New South Wales Attorney-General, the Honorable R J Debus MP has instructed the New South Wales Law Reform Commission to review whether existing legislation in New South Wales is effective in protecting individual’s privacy.

The New South Wales commission is required to liaise with the Australian Law Reform Commission and other government agencies and to consider:

• The desirability of privacy protection principles being uniform across Australia.
• The desirability of a consistent legislative approach to privacy in New South Wales legislation.
• The desirability of introducing a statutory tort of privacy in New South Wales.

The timing of the review is yet to be announced. For further information, refer to the New South Wales Law Reform Commission’s website.

This article was written by Duncan Giles, Special Counsel.

For more information please contact

Name : Duncan Giles
Title : Special Counsel
Office : Sydney
Phone : +61 2 9225 5954
Fax : +61 2 9322 4000
Email : duncan.giles@freehills.com