The growth of privacy law issues, election interference issues and a range of other issues have elevated the privacy law argument – and Privacy Commissioner and watchdog Barrister John Edwards – further up the List.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) received a 97 percent increase in privacy breach notifications in the first four months of the new Privacy Act, compared to the previous six months.

“The law change means that the privacy breach information we receive will now be comprehensive and more accurate. We intend to publish this information as a regular anonymised summary to help all organisations know where the greatest privacy risks are.”
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards

Under the new Act, organisations or businesses which experience a privacy breach that has caused, or has the potential to cause serious harm.

The development of specific Codes of Practice for different industries as well as specifying requirements regarding different types of personal information has created heightened interest and power.

John Edwards has increasingly flexed his legal muscle, including with the Terrorism Suppression Bill, which he blasted as being the proposed legislation as “obnoxious”, “fundamentally flawed”, and an “affront to the principles of due process”.

And with the new Privacy Act changes, his role is to further increase his influence and power in respect of ever-growing privacy issues.

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