Workplace Recording and Surveillance in Victoria

Victoria has no law dedicated to workplace surveillance. Unlike New South Wales, employer monitoring and employee recording at a Victorian workplace both fall back to the general Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic), the same Act that governs recording anywhere else in the state.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026 against the consolidated Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) text and the Parliament of Victoria's workplace surveillance inquiry materials. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses workplace recording and surveillance under the Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic), the federal Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the federal Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). It does not address workplace surveillance law in other Australian states or territories; for a national comparison, see workplace surveillance and monitoring in Australia.

No Dedicated Workplace Law: The General Surveillance Devices Act Applies

Only New South Wales and the ACT have legislation written specifically for workplace surveillance. Victoria is not one of them. An employer monitoring staff, or an employee recording a meeting, is governed by the same Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) that applies to any other recording scenario in the state, alongside the federal Fair Work Act and general employment law. There is no Victorian equivalent of the 14-day written notice rule or the Judge-issued covert surveillance authority that apply in New South Wales.

Can You Record Your Own Meeting or a Colleague in Victoria?

Yes, if you are a party to the conversation. 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." An employee recording their own meeting, performance review or conversation with a colleague is, by definition, a party to it, so the offence does not reach that recording at all. This is a different legal mechanism from New South Wales, where recording your own conversation is prohibited by default and then excused by an exception; in Victoria, the prohibition never extends to a participant in the first place.

Can Your Employer Watch or Listen to You at Work?

An employer's cameras and microphones are assessed under the same two provisions. Section 7, optical surveillance, is structurally identical to s 6: it is scoped to a private activity the person recording is not a party to. Camera monitoring of general work areas, where an employer or its representative is arguably a party to what occurs in its own premises for these purposes, sits differently than covert monitoring of a private space such as a change room or bathroom, which is far more likely to fall within the offence. Whatever the outcome on video, employer listening or recording of employee conversations is assessed under the same s 6 test used for any conversation, and sharing any resulting recording is a separate matter under s 11, which requires consent of each party, a lawful-interest or public-interest justification, or a legal or disciplinary proceeding.

Is Workplace Surveillance Reform Coming?

Possibly, but not yet law. A Victorian parliamentary inquiry reported in May 2025 and recommended a mandatory notification regime for workplace surveillance. The Victorian Government gave in-principle support to 15 of the inquiry's 18 recommendations in November 2025. As at this article's verification date, no bill implementing those recommendations had been introduced into Parliament, so the current legal position for Victorian workplaces remains the general Surveillance Devices Act described above, not a NSW-style notice regime.

A Lawful Recording Can Still Cost You Your Job

Being outside the criminal offence does not mean a recording is risk-free for the person who made it. The Fair Work Commission is not bound by the strict rules of evidence that apply in court, so a workplace recording, lawful or not, can still be put before it in an unfair dismissal matter, and secretly recording a colleague or manager has been treated as a valid reason for dismissal in reported Fair Work Commission decisions from other states applying the same general employment-law principles. Separately, the federal Privacy Act's employee-records exemption limits, but does not eliminate, an employer's exposure under the Australian Privacy Principles for records directly related to the employment relationship.

The Federal Layer

A federal civil action sits above all of the above. The statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, Schedule 2 to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), commenced 10 June 2025 and applies nationwide, providing a civil remedy, without proof of damage, for a serious, intentional or reckless invasion of privacy where a reasonable person would have expected privacy. It exists alongside, not instead of, the state law and Fair Work Commission questions discussed above.

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