Govt moves to strengthen privacy laws

The federal government has moved to strengthen privacy laws, paving the way for Australians to sue media organisations for any breaches.

The move follows the phone-hacking scandal in the UK and comes amidst a running battle the Gillard government is having with some News Ltd publications in Australia.

Privacy Minister Brendan O'Connor said the government was considering introducing a statutory cause of action for serious invasions of privacy.

"Right now there is no general right to privacy in Australia," he said on Thursday.

"That means there's no certainty for anyone wanting to sue for an invasion of their privacy."

Mr O'Connor said The News of the World scandal in the UK and other recent "mass breaches of privacy", both at home and abroad, had put the spotlight on whether there should be such a right.

New technology, while providing more opportunities for communication, were posing new challenges to privacy.

The government plans to publish an issues paper soon and invite submissions from the public.

The Australian Law Reform Commission three years ago made 295 recommendations for changes to privacy regulation and policy.

One of the recommendations included a proposal to introduce a statutory cause of action for serious breaches of privacy.

News Limited boss John Hartigan insists there is no evidence to suggest his company's publications have been involved in wrongdoing.

He said the government should tread carefully in considering stronger privacy laws.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday said the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch's global media empire needed to answer "hard questions" about its operations in the wake of the British scandal.

"The comments were unjustified and regrettable," Mr Hartigan said in a statement.

Another senior News Ltd executive Greg Baxter defended other media outlets as well.

"There is no evidence the practices that have emerged in the UK scandal are occurring in Australia either at News or any other media organisation," he told ABC Radio.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull agrees there should be debate about a statutory right to privacy, but warned against linking it to the phone-hacking scandal.

"We really do need to make sure that any discussion doesn't become a sort of antipodean re-run of the News of the World inquiries in the UK," he told ABC Radio.

"If we're going to look at privacy, we should look right across all media and have a honest debate about how much privacy we are entitled to."

The debate should also consider the media's right of free speech, Mr Turnbull said.

• Bookmark this page
• Share this article
  •  
  • facebook
  • slashdot
  • digg
  • Reddit
  • stumbleupon
  • linkedin
  • twitter
• Got more on this story? Email TechWorld
• Follow TechWorld on twitter

• Share
  Share this article

  •  google+
  • facebookfacebook
  • slashdotslashdot
  • diggdigg
  • RedditReddit
  • stumbleuponstumbleupon
  • linkedinlinkedin
  • twittertwitter
• print
• email
• Bookmark