Peter A Clarke

Australian media organisations have been entirely consistent when it comes to reform to the Privacy Act 1988 and any other reform to privacy laws. They want none of it. And they say “none of it” at the top of their voice. And they have done that with every review of the Privacy Act over the years and upon any suggestion that there be a statutory tort of interference with privacy. In the past the opposition has been so ferocious and vitriolic as to be detached from logic. The current review of the Privacy Act, culminating in the Attorney General’s Report in February 2023 has elicited much the same response from the Right to Know Coalition which (re)stated its adamant opposition to the proposed reforms contained in the report. In response to the Issues Paper and Discussion Paper the media organisations were keen respondents making their points in determined but polite way.

The deadline for final submissions to the Report was 31 March 2023.  It is only now that the Right to Know Coalition has swung from submissions on legal issues with proposals in the Issues Paper, Discussion Paper and the Report to a full on political and editorial assault on the reform proposals.  Carefully worded legal analysis has given way to high volume polemics and apocolyptic predictions and general purpose mischief making. 

The Guardian, part of the Right to Know coalition, reports on the statement in Media companies slam proposed reforms to Australian privacy laws.

The article provides:

Media companies have rejected a proposal to reform Australian privacy law, warning that the changes – including a right to sue outlets for serious invasions of privacy – are not in the public interest and would harm press freedom.

The Right to Know coalition warns the attorney general’s department’s proposal, released in February, would have “a devastating impact on press freedom and journalism in Australia without any clearly defined need or benefit”. Read the rest of this entry »