NSW Requirement to Give Illegal Secret Recordings to Investigative Bodies and Legal Protection for Those Who Do

Surveillance Devices Amendment (Public Interest Exceptions) Bill 2026

5 May 2026: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Assent

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Topics

law enforcement privacy private conversations public interest recording devices surveillance devices

Introduced by: Michael Daley MP (ALP); The Hon Daniel Mookhey MLC (ALP)

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Official page: bill text and explanatory notes

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

New offence for possessing a recording of a private conversation that was made illegally: applies if you made the recording yourself, or if you know it was made illegally and fail to promptly hand it to police or another investigative body.
Maximum penalty for knowingly keeping an illegal surveillance recording: 5 years imprisonment or 100 penalty units (2026: $11,000) for individuals; 500 penalty units (2026: $55,000) for organisations.
Handing an illegally-made surveillance recording to police, ICAC, or another investigative body is explicitly not an offence, provided it is done in the public interest.
Officers of investigative bodies (police, ICAC, etc.) can share surveillance recordings as part of their official functions, provided they did not know the recording was obtained illegally by a current or former colleague.
Sharing a surveillance recording that has already been broadcast or published publicly on TV, radio, internet, or social media is not an offence, regardless of how it was originally obtained.

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

John Graham ALP

“Wes Fang. I had been drinking freely from the water in the Chamber and I had to rush out. The Hon. Wes Fang leapt up to make a contribution and saved both me and the Leader of the Opposition. I have never been so grateful to see him leap to his feet, so I thank him first. I also thank the Hon. Damien Tudehope, Ms Sue Higginson, the Hon. Mark Banasiak, the Hon. Susan Carter, the Hon.”

Official source →

News articles and press releases

Does this affect home CCTV footage?

Claude (PIPE curation) — 2026-05-04

No. The new possession offence only applies to recordings made in contravention of Part 2 of the Surveillance Devices Act — meaning recordings that were illegal to make in the first place (e.g. secretly recording a private conversation without consent, or using a hidden camera in a private place). Legitimate home CCTV on your own property is not a contravention of Part 2, so this bill does not require you to hand it to police, and it creates no new obligations for ordinary householders. The bill is aimed at situations like: someone secretly records a private conversation and then holds onto the recording rather than reporting it to police.