As reported incoming legislative change will significantly strengthen its online privacy laws following a spate of data breaches in recent weeks — such as the Optus
“Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing safeguards are inadequate. It’s not enough for a penalty for a major data breach to be seen as the cost of doing business,” said its attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus.
“We need better laws to regulate how companies manage the huge amount of data they collect, and bigger penalties to incentivize better behavior.”
The changes will be made via an amendment to the country’s privacy laws, following a long process of consultation on reforms.
Dreyfus said the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 will increase the maximum penalties that can be applied under the Privacy Act 1988 for serious or repeated privacy breaches from the current AUS $2.22 million (~$1.4 million) penalty to whichever is the greater of:
- AUS $50 million (~$32 million);
- 3x the value of any benefit obtained through the misuse of information; or
- 30% of a company’s adjusted turnover in the relevant period
These amounts are substantially higher than an earlier draft (when penalties of AUS $10 million or 10% of turnover were being considered).
Major breaches such as at Optus — and another that followed hard on its heels, Medibank Private — appear to have concentrated lawmakers’ minds.
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