Recording Phone Calls in Victoria

In Victoria, recording your own phone call is outside the state recording offence entirely, not merely excused by an exception. The bigger practical risk is what you do with the recording afterward.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026 against the consolidated Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) and Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) text. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses recording a phone call under the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) and the federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth). It does not address the phone-call recording rules of other Australian states or territories; for a national comparison, see can you record a phone call in Australia.

The Federal Law Question First

Before reaching state law, it is worth ruling out the federal wiretap offence. The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) prohibits intercepting a communication passing over a telecommunications system (s 7(1)). Interception is defined as listening to or recording a communication "in its passage over that telecommunications system without the knowledge of the person making the communication" (s 6(1)). A participant recording their own call has knowledge of it, and the recording happens at the point of receipt rather than in transit across the network, so this federal offence generally targets a third party tapping the line, not a person recording their own conversation.

Recording Your Own Call in Victoria

Section 6(1) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) prohibits using a listening device to record a private conversation "to which the person is not a party," without the express or implied consent of each party. Read carefully, the offence is written to require that the person doing the recording not be a party to the call. If you are speaking or being spoken to, that condition is never met, and the prohibition simply does not apply to you. This is a structurally different position from New South Wales, where recording your own call is prohibited and then excused by an exception; in Victoria, describe it as the prohibition not extending to a call you are part of, not as the Act granting you permission.

Recording a Call You're Not Part Of

Where you are not on the call at all, for example recording someone else's conversation on speakerphone from another room, s 6(1) applies in full force, and the recording requires the express or implied consent of each party to be lawful.

Sharing a Recorded Call Is a Separate Offence

Section 11 of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) makes it a separate offence to publish or communicate a recording of a private conversation obtained by a listening device, and this applies even to a recording that was entirely lawful to make because the recorder was a party to it. The exceptions require consent of each party to the conversation, a use no more than reasonably necessary in the public interest or to protect the lawful interests of the person publishing it, or use in legal or disciplinary proceedings. In practice, this is the most useful point to understand about Victorian phone-call recording: being free to record a call under s 6 does not mean you are free to share it.

Could a Recorded Call Be Used in Court?

Victoria is one of the jurisdictions that has adopted the uniform Evidence Act framework, under the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic). Its s 138 gives a court discretion to exclude evidence obtained improperly or in contravention of an Australian law, weighing the desirability of admitting the evidence against the undesirability of how it was obtained. No recording can be described in advance as admissible; courts weigh admissibility under the s 138 discretion on the specific facts of each case.

The Federal Civil Tort

Sharing a call recording, particularly one containing sensitive information, can also engage the federal statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, part of Schedule 2 to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and in force since 10 June 2025. It provides a civil action, without proof of damage, for a serious, intentional or reckless invasion of privacy, and applies nationwide alongside the state rules above.

This article provides general legal information about phone-call recording law in Victoria. It is not legal advice and does not take into account your specific circumstances. For advice about a particular recording, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to record my own phone call in Victoria?

Recording a call you are a party to is outside the offence in s 6(1) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) entirely, because that section only catches recording a conversation you are not a party to. This is general information about the statute, not an assessment of any specific recording.

Does federal law stop me recording my own phone call in Victoria?

Generally no. The federal interception offence in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) s 7 targets recording a call in transit over the network without the knowledge of the person making it, not a participant recording at the handset.

Can I record a call between two other people in Victoria if I'm not on it?

That is caught by s 6(1) of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) in full, and requires the express or implied consent of each party, unlike recording your own call.

Can I share a phone call recording I lawfully made in Victoria?

Not automatically. Publishing or communicating a recorded call is a separate offence under s 11 of the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic), with its own limited exceptions, regardless of whether making the recording itself was lawful.

Will a secretly recorded phone call be allowed as evidence in a Victorian court?

No recording can be guaranteed admissible. Courts weigh admissibility of improperly obtained evidence under the discretion in s 138 of the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic), considering factors including the gravity of any impropriety.