The Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) undertook this research to make sure that consumer views and needs were well-reflected in ongoing discussions about reform to Australia’s privacy protections. Australian consumers told us very clearly what they want - for businesses to treat their data with greater care and respect.

There’s a major mismatch with how the digital economy currently works and what consumers want. Whole industries currently exist to trade in consumer data yet 79% of Australians agree that a company should not sell people’s data under any circumstances. Even though companies commonly monitor what we do online, on their own websites as well as across the internet, 70% of people are not comfortable with companies monitoring their online behaviour.

The law needs to require more effort on the part of businesses to assess if how they collect, share, and use data results in fair outcomes for their customers. Australians support a strong regulator that has sufficient resources to investigate privacy harms (82%) and has the power to pause, test and ban current and potentially harmful data practices (80% or more).