Victorian Surveillance Devices Act 1999

No employer knowingly installs, uses or maintains a camera or other optical surveillance device, or any listening device, to watch, listen to, record or monitor what workers do or say in workplace toilets, washrooms, lactation rooms or change rooms. This applies whether or not the workers consent. Exceptions: warrants and emergency authorisations, Commonwealth law, and where a condition of a liquor licence under the Liquor Control Reform Act 1998 requires it. Maximum for an individual: 2 years' imprisonment or a 240 penalty unit fine (both level 7), or both; otherwise 1200 penalty units; officers of a body corporate who fail to exercise due diligence are liable (s 32A), and for an unincorporated body or firm the members of its committee of management or the partners are liable (s 9D).

No one knowingly installs, uses or maintains an optical surveillance device to watch or visually record a private activity they are not part of unless every party to it has given express or implied consent. Exceptions: warrants and emergency authorisations, Commonwealth law, law enforcement officers on premises with the occupier's authority where reasonably necessary to protect someone's lawful interests, and incidental recording by the overt use of body-worn cameras or tablets by police, ambulance officers and prescribed persons. Maximum for an individual: 2 years' imprisonment or a 240 penalty unit fine (both level 7), or both; for a body corporate 1200 penalty units. Officers who fail to exercise due diligence are also liable (s 32A). Because a private activity excludes activity outside a building or where the parties ought to expect being observed, openly signed workplace CCTV in ordinary work areas is generally outside s 7, while cameras watching activity in places where workers reasonably expect privacy need consent (and Part 2A bans some places outright).

No one knowingly installs, uses or maintains a listening device to eavesdrop on, listen to, record or monitor a private conversation they are not part of unless every party to it has given express or implied consent. Exceptions: warrants and emergency authorisations, Commonwealth law, specified law enforcement safety monitoring with one party's consent, and incidental recording by the overt use of body-worn cameras or tablets by police, ambulance officers and prescribed persons. Maximum for an individual: 2 years' imprisonment or a 240 penalty unit fine (both level 7), or both; for a body corporate 1200 penalty units. Officers who fail to exercise due diligence are also liable (s 32A). A party to a conversation recording it is not caught by s 6, but communicating or publishing that recording is restricted by s 11. For employers, audio capture of workers' private conversations (for example audio-enabled CCTV, call or meeting recording by a non-party) needs the consent of every party.

No one knowingly installs, uses or maintains a tracking device to find where a person is without that person's express or implied consent, or where an object is unless whoever lawfully possesses or controls it has given express or implied consent. Exceptions: warrants and emergency authorisations, Commonwealth law, and orders under the Serious Offenders Act 2018, parole orders, community correction orders, prison governor orders and bail electronic monitoring conditions. Maximum for an individual: 2 years' imprisonment or a 240 penalty unit fine (both level 7), or both; for a body corporate 1200 penalty units. Officers who fail to exercise due diligence are also liable (s 32A). Employer GPS on vehicles or devices it lawfully possesses or controls rests on that possession or control; tracking a worker as a person, or through their own phone or vehicle, needs the worker's consent.