Joint Submission to the Review of the Privacy Act
Monash Law colleagues have been cited extensively in the Australian Privacy Act Review Report.
1 May 2023
Recently the Australian Attorney-General’s Department released its Report on the Privacy Act Review, which has extensively cited the work of Monash Law researchers and Castan Centre members on issues of privacy and data protection. This milestone report, which concludes a two-year comprehensive review into Australia’s privacy laws, proposes a major overhaul of Australia’s data protection regime.
To contribute to the report, the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law made a detailed submission to the Issues Paper (October 2020), followed by a Castan Centre and Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies (CLARS) joint submission to the Discussion Paper (January 2022). Contributors to these submissions were Centre members, Assoc. Prof. Yee-Fui Ng, Adj. Prof. Moira Paterson, Prof. Marilyn Pittard, Adj. Assoc. Prof. Normann Witzleb, and Andrea Olivares Jones. Both submissions are cited on around 120 occasions in the report.
Download the 2022 joint submission
In addition, the report considers research by Moira Paterson and Normann Witzleb on privacy and micro-targeting in the political process for its proposal to impose new privacy rules for political parties. The report’s proposals on strengthening the privacy protections of children and people experiencing vulnerability relied on a research report commissioned by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on Privacy risks and harms for children and other vulnerable groups in the online environment, which was co-authored by Normann Witzleb, Moira Paterson as well as colleagues from privacy consultancy, elevenM.
Since the Report's publication, the researchers have also responded to the recent call for submissions on the Review Report and have made another detailed submission. The authors are Centre members, Assoc. Prof. Yee-Fui Ng, Adj. Prof. Moira Paterson, Prof. Marilyn Pittard, Adj. Assoc. Prof. Normann Witzleb joined by Prof Megan Richardson and Dr Brendan Clift of the Melbourne Law School. We look forward to sharing this submission when it is published by the Attorney-General’s Department.
The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law congratulates our colleagues for their collaboration, influence and impact on this important area of the law.