AHISA SUBMISSION

Attorney-General’s Department

29 March 2023

Response to the Privacy Act Review Report

AHISA welcomed the Report’s consideration of the safety of children and young people, which was the focus of the concerns raised in AHISA’s submission to the Privacy Act Review in January 2022.

Commenting on the Report’s proposals regarding children and young people, AHISA advocated that the definition of a ‘child’ under the Act be aligned with the wider legal definition, so that capacity to give consent to a platform’s access to a user’s data or location is not simply signalled by age of the child. AHISA proposed that all young people under the age of 18 have a right to the full protection of the law, irrespective of whether they have signalled consent to the terms and conditions of a digital product.

AHISA also recommended that the safety and privacy of children be adopted as a guiding principle for any related codes to the Act, in line with Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) 2021 General Comment on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment.

Response to the Privacy Act Review Report – FULL SUBMISSION