True or False – You have a right to privacy?

There is no general right to privacy in Australia. However there are laws protecting the privacy of information that is collected about you.

No right to privacy means that there is no legal remedy for some things most people would think of as an invasion of privacy.  For example, there is no law to stop your neighbour setting up a camera and photographing  you every time you go into your backyard, as long as they don’t come on to your property.

The privacy laws that do exist are all about information privacy.  Government agencies and bigger companies are subject to a strict regime of laws designed to protect the privacy of personal information they collect about you.  The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is responsible for the information privacy laws and publishes a lot of useful information about information privacy, and is a good place to start if you have concerns about how information collected about you is being used.