Australian Attitudes Towards Privacy of Information: Will COVID-19 Make a Difference?

There has always been tension between security needs (as expressed by a nation-state) and privacy needs (as expressed by the citizens of said nation-state). Achieving this balance is perhaps one of the goals of statecraft. Terrorist attacks tend to shift the balance towards security, whilst proponents of civil liberties tend to want to move the balance in the other direction. We examine Australian attitudes to privacy in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and consider whether the effect of the pandemic is likely to change Australian’s perception of their fundamental right to privacy, as determined by law, enabled by technology and shaped by human concerns.