17 September, 2026
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (14:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Attorney-General on the topic of smart glasses.
Leave granted.
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Smart glasses look like ordinary glasses, yet allow the wearer to record images, video and audio, mostly covertly, with just the press of a button. A quick search of Kmart's online store has them listed at just $89. In countries such as the US and the United Kingdom, where the technology is more widespread, it has facilitated doxxing, online shaming and harassment at gyms, beaches and a range of public and semi-public spaces. Councils interstate, including the Brisbane City Council and the Yarra City Council, have both taken steps to ban the use of these glasses in public places, such as swimming pools.
I also understand that Councillor Phillip Martin will be bringing a proposal before the Adelaide City Council in coming weeks, and just this morning the owner of Gluttony indicated that his festival would be investigating banning these glasses from their events. My questions to the Attorney-General, therefore, are:
1. Will the Attorney-General be advocating for a ban of these glasses at a national level?
2. At the very least, will the government support the calls from the Greens and others to ban these glasses from pools, schools, gyms, and playgrounds?
The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Arts, Special Minister of State) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in this area. I have written to my counterpart, the federal Attorney-General, in recent weeks, the Hon. Michelle Rowland MP, because I know that the commonwealth recently released a draft privacy bill that does go some way to targeting new technologies such as smart glasses, with a plan to introduce the bill to the federal parliament, as I understand it, by the end of this year.
Ideally there would be national consistency about the use and ability to own these sorts of things, but in addition to that I have also asked my department to give me some advice about the state of the law in South Australia and the various technologies that may need to be captured by those. As I have answered before—I think the Hon. Laura Henderson has previously asked questions in this place about smart glasses and their use—various parts of the South Australian law already apply. For instance, the Surveillance Devices Act 2016 creates an offence for the use of optical surveillance and recording conversations without express or implied consent for private activities.
That expectation of privacy depends on the context and the place, but it is not just smart glasses—we are seeing very small cameras in all sorts of items, including, as I am advised, lapel pins and other items. Smart glasses is a good start to look at it. As I said, I have asked for advice on this in South Australia, but I am also corresponding with the federal Attorney-General about the plans for national consistency with the laws.
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (14:29): Supplementary: given the Premier championed national reforms to restrict social media for under-16 year olds, does the government have an appetite to lead the way in reform in this area?
The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Arts, Special Minister of State) (14:29): We always have an appetite to lead the way in reform, but as I said I do note that there is a draft privacy bill federally out for consultation, which is set to be introduced this year, so I am keen to see how that works. As I said, in addition to that I have already asked for advice from my department.