Australia Recording Consent Checker
Pick your state or territory and the situation you are recording, and see the statutory position: which Act applies, the section that governs it, and the catch most people miss. Covers all eight Australian jurisdictions. Free, instant, and calculated entirely in your browser; no sign-up.
New South Wales
Prohibited by default, broad personal-use exception
New South Wales law prohibits recording your own conversation by default, but excuses it in most personal situations.
Section 7(1)(b) makes it an offence to record a private conversation to which you are a party. Section 7(3) excuses that recording if all principal parties consent, or if a principal party consents and the recording is reasonably necessary to protect that party's lawful interests, or the recording is not made for the purpose of communicating or publishing it to people who were not part of the conversation.
That third limb is the broad personal-use exception: most recording kept for your own reference, and never intended for anyone outside the conversation, falls within it.
Governing provision
Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW) s 7(1)(b), s 7(3)
The catch
If you plan to send the recording to, or publish it for, someone who was not part of the conversation, the personal-use limb will not cover that use. You would need consent or a lawful-interests justification instead.
Maximum penalty in New South Wales
100 penalty units, imprisonment for 5 years, or both, for an individual; up to 500 penalty units for a corporation.
Federal overlay (applies everywhere)
On top of the criminal rules below, a person can bring a civil claim under the statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy (Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) sch 2), which commenced 10 June 2025. It applies to individuals, unlike the Australian Privacy Principles, and a claim does not need to prove financial loss.
This tool states the statutory position under the Act named above, and the general rule the section creates. It does not tell you whether a specific recording of yours is lawful, because that depends on facts the tool cannot assess, including what was said, where, whether anyone consented, and why you made the recording. This is general legal information, not legal advice. Consult an Australian legal practitioner about your situation. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm and is not affiliated with any Australian government body.
The Three Groups
Australian surveillance law is not the US one-party or all-party consent binary. Each state and territory runs its own listening-device or surveillance-devices Act, and on the question of recording a conversation you are personally part of, they fall into three genuinely different groups.
Group 1, outside the offence entirely: Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory. The offence in these Acts is written so that it only catches recording a conversation you are not a party to. A participant never needs an exception, because the prohibition never reaches them in the first place. Publishing what you recorded is still separately regulated.
Group 2, prohibited by default with a broad personal-use exception: New South Wales, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory. Recording your own conversation is technically prohibited, but it is excused if all principal parties consent, or it is reasonably necessary to protect your lawful interests, or, the limb that covers most everyday recording, it is not made for the purpose of communicating or publishing it to people who were not part of the conversation.
Group 3, prohibited by default with only a narrow exception: Western Australia, South Australia. Same basic prohibition, but there is no personal-use limb. Only all-party consent or a lawful-interests justification excuses the recording (South Australia additionally has a separate public-interest exception). Recording purely for your own reference, with no consent and no lawful interest behind it, is not excused in either state.
A conversation you are not part of is treated differently again: every jurisdiction prohibits recording it without consent, regardless of which group the state falls into for a participant.
Video is a separate axis from audio. New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory regulate optical or video surveillance devices. Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT have no general optical surveillance provision at all. New South Wales is further unusual: its optical provision is a trespass test (did installing the device require entering someone else's premises or vehicle), not the private-activity test the other states use.
All 8 States and Territories
| State / territory | Governing Act | Recording your own conversation | Video regulated? | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Capital Territory | Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT) | Prohibited, broad personal-use exception | No general provision | up to 50 penalty units. |
| New South Wales | Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW) | Prohibited, broad personal-use exception | Yes | 100 penalty units, imprisonment for 5 years, or both, for an individual; up to 500 penalty units for a corporation. |
| Northern Territory | Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT) | Outside the offence entirely | Yes | 250 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years. |
| Queensland | Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 (Qld) | Outside the offence entirely | No general provision | 40 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years. |
| South Australia | Surveillance Devices Act 2016 (SA) | Prohibited, narrow exception only | Yes | up to $15,000 or imprisonment for 3 years, for a natural person; up to $75,000 for a body corporate. |
| Tasmania | Listening Devices Act 1991 (Tas) | Prohibited, broad personal-use exception | No general provision | 40 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years. |
| Victoria | Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) | Outside the offence entirely | Yes | 240 penalty units, imprisonment for 2 years, or both, for an individual; up to 1200 penalty units for a body corporate. |
| Western Australia | Surveillance Devices Act 1998 (WA) | Prohibited, narrow exception only | Yes | up to $5,000, 12 months imprisonment, or both, for an individual; up to $50,000 for a body corporate. |
Penalty figures are the maximum stated in each Act. Western Australia and South Australia set fixed dollar penalties; the other six jurisdictions set a penalty-unit count, and the dollar value of a penalty unit changes each financial year, so check the current value with the relevant state or territory before relying on a dollar figure for those six.
What This Tool Does Not Do
This checker states the statutory rule for the Act, section and situation you selected. It does not, and cannot, tell you whether a specific recording of yours is lawful. That depends on facts a lookup tool has no way to assess: exactly what was said, whether anyone consented and how, where the recording took place, what you intended to do with it, and whether a court would treat your reason for recording as protecting a lawful interest. A workplace, a courtroom and a family law matter can each carry additional rules beyond the general Act. On top of the criminal rules above, a person can also bring a civil claim under the statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) sch 2, which commenced 10 June 2025 and, unlike the Australian Privacy Principles, applies to individuals.
For a deeper walkthrough of the national picture, see is it legal to record a conversation in Australia and, for calls specifically, can you record a phone call in Australia. This is general legal information, not legal advice. Consult an Australian legal practitioner about your own situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Australia a one-party consent country?
No. That US framing does not map onto Australian law. Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory place recording a conversation you are part of outside the offence entirely. New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT prohibit it by default but excuse it under a broad personal-use test. Western Australia and South Australia prohibit it by default with only a narrow lawful-interests exception and no personal-use limb. The right answer depends on which state or territory you are in.
Can I record a work meeting without telling anyone?
It depends on the state and whether you are a party to the conversation. If you are a party, the same three-group position above applies. Some states also add workplace-specific surveillance law on top of the general Act, for example the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW) requiring 14 days notice before an employer starts monitoring, and the Workplace Privacy Act 2011 (ACT) governing optical, tracking and data surveillance of workers.
Does recording my own phone call follow the same rule as an in-person conversation?
Generally yes. The federal interception offence in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) does not apply to recording your own call at your own handset, because you have knowledge of your own communication and are not intercepting it in its passage over the network. That leaves the position governed by your state or territory listening-device law, the same Act and the same group described above for an in-person conversation.
What is the difference between Group 2 and Group 3 states?
Group 2 states, New South Wales, Tasmania and the ACT, excuse recording your own conversation where it is not made for the purpose of communicating or publishing it to people outside the conversation, which covers most personal, private recording. Group 3 states, Western Australia and South Australia, do not have that limb. Only all-party consent or a lawful-interests justification excuses the recording there, so recording purely for your own reference is not automatically excused.
Can I put up a security camera that films my neighbour's yard?
There is no single national answer. New South Wales uses a trespass test, so a camera that never requires entering the neighbour's land is generally outside the Act. Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory ask whether the footage captures a private activity, so ordinary yard or driveway footage usually falls outside that test unless it captures somewhere like a bathroom or bedroom window. Queensland, Tasmania and the ACT have no general optical provision at all, so a neighbour dispute there is more likely to be a council or nuisance matter, or fall under the new federal privacy tort.
Is it illegal to film the police in public?
No Australian jurisdiction makes it a standalone offence to film police performing their duties in a public place. The real legal exposure tends to come from generic obstruct or hinder offences if your filming physically interferes with what police are doing, not from the recording itself. Audio generally falls outside the definition of a private conversation in public because of an ought-reasonably-expect-to-be-overheard exclusion, though Tasmania is a notable exception because its Act has no such exclusion.
Can a secret recording be used as evidence in court?
Courts weigh this rather than apply an automatic rule. Under the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) s 138 and its state equivalents, evidence obtained improperly or in contravention of a law is not admitted unless the desirability of admitting it outweighs the undesirability of how it was obtained, a discretion that considers factors like how serious the contravention was and how important the evidence is. This tool does not predict how a court would rule on any specific recording.
Does this tool store the information I enter?
No. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you select is saved, transmitted, or used to contact you.
This tool summarises the surveillance and listening-device Acts of the eight Australian states and territories as at 19 July 2026. It is general legal information, not legal advice, and does not assess the facts of your specific recording. RecordingLaw.com is not a law firm and is not affiliated with any Australian government body. Consult an Australian legal practitioner before you record, or before you rely on a recording you already have.
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