The OAIC’s 2026 Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey highlights a growing gap between Australians’ privacy expectations and their lived experience. While privacy remains highly valued, Australians increasingly feel they have little meaningful control over how organisations collect, retain and use their personal information. The findings point to rising expectations around transparency, accountability, data minimisation, deletion rights and responsible AI governance; along with increased concern that any personal information held will ultimately be compromised.
Key Findings from 1504 respondents
- 93% say protecting personal information is important to them.
- 87% are more concerned about privacy than they were five years ago.
- 78% feel they have little or no real control over how their personal information is collected and used.
- 68% say consent rarely feels like a genuine choice.
- 73% experienced at least one privacy-related issue in the past 12 months.
- 93% support a legal right to request deletion of personal information.
- 69% consider AI’s use of personal information a significant privacy risk.
- 96% consider the sale or trading of personal information unfair and unreasonable.
Most Trusted Sectors
- Health service providers: 74%
- Government agencies: 68%
- Financial institutions: 59%
- Education providers: 57%
- Least Trusted Sectors
- Social media companies: 3%
- AI companies: 4%
- Data brokers: 4%
- Retailers: 10%
Trust has also fallen across insurance, telecommunications, technology, retail and real estate sectors since 2023.
While the survey does not identify a specific cause, this likely reflects the cumulative impact of high-profile data breaches and growing community scrutiny of how organisations collect, retain and use personal information. Australians are increasingly questioning whether personal information is being collected and retained beyond what is necessary, reinforcing the importance of data minimisation and clear governance practices. This is our interpretation of the survey findings.
What Does This Mean for Your Organisation?
Can you confidently answer these five questions?
- Do we collect only the personal information we genuinely need?
- How long are we retaining personal and sensitive information, and why?
- Can we quickly identify where “all” personal information resides across the organisation?
- Do we have visibility of information being shared with third parties, cloud platforms and AI services?
- Are our information governance, privacy and AI controls keeping pace with community expectations and regulatory change?
If you cannot confidently answer these questions, contact Genesys Data (use as HYPERLINK https://genesysdata.com.au/contact/)
The ACAPS findings suggest that trust is increasingly shaped by transparency, data minimisation, accountability and responsible use of information. Organisations that can confidently answer these questions will be better positioned to reduce risk, strengthen compliance and build trust with customers, employees and stakeholders. Importantly, 68% of Australians said they would be more likely to use digital services if they believed their information was handled fairly and responsibly.
The link to the report can be found here – https://www.oaic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/264362/ACAPS-2026-Report.PDF
Leave a Reply