Australian Privacy Law Update 2026 – What’s new and what’s coming

The first tranche of Privacy Act reforms are in place, a new statutory tort lets individuals sue for serious invasions of their privacy and the OAIC is engaging in enforcement activities more than it has before (including obtaining a $5.8 million civil penalty order and a renewed privacy policy compliance review in select industries). At the same time, AI and emerging technologies are pushing the limits of what our existing privacy frameworks can handle.

In this session, Piper Alderman privacy and data protection expert Tim Clark will walk through the developments since our last update in March 2025 that every lawyer and privacy professional needs to understand right now: the reforms in operation, the tort in practice, the regulator's enforcement activities, decisions on facial recognition and AI and the proposed Children's Online Privacy Code and automated decision-making obligations arriving in December 2026.

This is your opportunity to get…