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Almost two years after a relatively modest set of Privacy Act reforms were passed in late 2024 (Tranche 1 Reforms) (more on these here), the Australian Government has released an exposure draft of the more substantial Tranche 2 reforms, in the form of the Privacy Amendment (Personal Data Protection) Bill 2026 (Cth) (Draft Bill). The Draft Bill is accompanied by a consultation paper which seeks feedback on the practical operation and implementation of the Draft Bill, as well as other proposed measures under development (Paper).
The Draft Bill includes 41 proposed reforms, 30 of which were recommended reforms in the Attorney-General’s Department’s Privacy Act Review Report 2022 (Review Report) and 11 of which are new.
The new reforms cover the following:
- a new definition of ‘disclosure’, which deems personal information as disclosed where it is accessible to a third party, regardless of whether the discloser retains a level of control over it.
- direct marketing, to include exceptions in the context of ‘ad-supported services’.
- privacy collection notices, to reduce the content required under Australian Privacy Principle (APP) 5.
- data security and destruction, to require entities to:
- regularly assess the effectiveness of their compliance with APP 11;
- consider whether personal information which is no longer needed should be destroyed rather than de-identified;
- determine what personal information they hold, in order to apply security and destruction controls.
- an expanded exception for dealing with serious wrongdoing, a broader concept than the previous serious misconduct.
- new exceptions permitting collection of sensitive information where strictly necessary to provide requested goods and services or collected from a ‘publicly available document’.
With submissions to the Paper closing 18 September 2026, entities should consider whether there are any practical issues they wish to raise or interpretations they wish to influence, particularly in the context of their industry or sector.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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