We surveyed over 1,900 Australian adults to build a picture around privacy attitudes and experiences in Australia as a part of our Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey 2023.

The Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey has revealed Australians understand why they should protect their personal information and care about their privacy, but generally don’t know what to do about it.

Right now, less than a third of us feel in control of our privacy.

As a nation, we don’t always trust that organisations are doing the right thing with our data.

This is often because we’ve had a negative privacy experience in the past.

In the last year, 21% of us were sent marketing we didn’t sign up for.

And 25% were unable to unsubscribe from marketing communications.

47% of us discovered our data had been breached.

76% experienced harm as a direct result.

When it comes to choosing a product or service, 96% of us feel the privacy of our information is important.

It’s a big consideration for 52% of Australians, who ranked privacy in their top 3 factors when choosing a product or service, after quality and price.

We are even prepared to experience inconvenience if privacy is guaranteed.

Then there’s our children’s privacy, which is a major concern for 79% of Australian parents.

50% of us feel like we’re in control of our children’s privacy. 18% don’t.

But most parents support government, business and technology measures that increase levels of protection.

These are just some of Australians’ attitudes towards privacy in 2023.

To read the full report and find out more about safeguarding your privacy visit oaic.gov.au/acaps