Is Your Club Or Association Ready For The Changes To The Australian Privacy Act?

Clubs and associations could soon be required to comply with Australia’s Privacy Act as a part of several recommended changes from the Governor General’s report on the Act.  

Currently, any business that has an annual turnover of less than $3 million is exempt from complying with the Australian Privacy Act. Under the recommended changes from the Governor General’s office, this exemption will be scrapped, meaning that all small businesses, associations, and likely most clubs will be forced to comply with the Act.

The Australian government has “agreed in principle” to the majority of the recommended changes to the Act. The government is currently aiming to implement these changes in 2024.  
 

What Are Some Of The Recommended Changes To The Privacy Act That Will Affect Clubs and Associations?  

As we have already covered, the most significant proposed change to privacy is the removal of the $3 million turnover threshold for the Act to apply. This means that the updated Privacy Act will apply to small businesses, clubs and associations regardless of annual turnover. 

Clubs and associations will have to comply with all current Privacy Act requirements as well as any new ones that are introduced. Essentially, clubs and associations will be held to a higher standard of acting responsibly with members’ data and digital information. 

Some of the critical changes that will likely affect clubs are as follows:

• Clubs and associations will have to seek informed consent from members as to what they are doing with their data.
   
• Clubs and associations will be held responsible for responsibly storing and handling members’ information. They will also be responsible for deleting old member data once it is no longer needed. 
   
• Clubs and associations must comply with stricter protections for the data security of any children who are members under the new Children’s Online Privacy Code. 

 

These are just some of the proposed changes to the Privacy Act; it is also worth remembering that it won’t just be these changes that will affect clubs and associations but every law and guideline within the Australian Privacy Act. 

What Your Club Or Association Needs To Do To Comply With The Changing Privacy Act  

It must be said that I and the rest of the Member Jungle team are not lawyers or any kind of legal or government policy experts. The whole purpose of this article is to flag some proposed changes to the law that will likely affect your club or association. This article should not be the end of your research into this topic but a jumping-off point for it. 

I would strongly recommend that you carry out your own research into this topic and how it will affect your club or association. 

You can read the Attorney General’s official review report here: Privacy Act Review Report.

You can view the Australian Government’s official response to the Privacy Act Report here: Government response to the Privacy Act Review Report.

You can get more information on the current Australian Privacy Act by visiting Privacy Act 1988. 

I would also recommend reaching out to a legal professional if you would like further help to understand the proposed changes and the extent of their effects. 

How Can Member Jungle Help Your Club Or Association Adapt To The Privacy Act

The good news is that Member Jungle takes data privacy and security very seriously, and any clubs and associations already using the Member Jungle system will already have a head start on preparing to comply with the Privacy Act changes. There will undoubtedly be more for you to do, but the Member Jungle system will be able to help you tick more than a few things off your compliance checklist. 

To find out more about how the Member Jungle system keeps your data safe, please read, How does Member Jungle protect your data?

To find out more about how you can keep your members’ data private, please read Keeping Your Club’s User Data Private.