New South Wales and Victoria have announced major moves to tighten workplace surveillance laws, amid growing concern that existing rules are failing to keep pace with rapidly evolving monitoring technologies.

Last week, the Victorian government officially backed many recommendations from an inquiry into workplace surveillance, agreeing to develop new legislation requiring surveillance to be reasonable and proportionate, and for workers to be given at least two weeks’ notice of any surveillance.

In the same week, the NSW government introduced legislation to the state Parliament cracking down on the use of AI and automated systems to allocate work, and giving unions the ability to investigate digital work systems.

Workplace surveillance has become a central issue with the rapid rise of working from home, as employers cite productivity concerns while workers warn of increasing privacy intrusions.

Agreeing in principle with reform

Earlier this year a Victorian parliamentary inquiry found that this widespread and escalating increase in the use of high-tech workplace surveillance was harming employees.

It cited examples including apps that constantly collect private data, AI tools that analyse facial expressions to judge concentration, and neurotechnology claiming to measure attention levels.

The inquiry recommended that the Victorian government require all workplace surveillance to be reasonable, necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate objective; require employers to notify workers of this surveillance in advance; and a range of data security requirements be imposed.

The Victorian government last week tabled its response to this inquiry, agreeing in principle to most of its recommendations, saying the committee had struck the right balance between recognising legitimate business needs and the potential harms of excessive surveillance.

The government said it will look to introduce legislation around workplace surveillance, including a requirement that it be proportionate and that employees be provided with at least 14 days’ notice of surveillance.

“The government will consider legislative options to implement modern and effective technology-neutral laws that are principles-based and place an obligation on employers to justify that the use of workplace surveillance is reasonable, necessary and proportionate to achieve a legitimate purpose,” the government said.

The Victorian government will consider whether to do this through amendments to existing legislation or a new stand-alone Act.

Investigating workplace algorithms

The NSW government last week introduced the NSW Work Health and Safety Amendment (Digital Work Systems) Bill 2025, which strengthens protections for workers when their employer uses a “digital work system”, which it defines as an algorithm, AI, automation or online platform aimed at driving efficiency and productivity.

NSW Minister for Industrial Relations and Work Health and Safety Sophie Cotsis warned that poorly managed digital systems can contribute to stress, anxiety, depression and fatigue.

“As digital systems increasingly shape how work is organised, these risks cannot be left unexamined or unmanaged,” she told Parliament.

“This proposed duty reflects the reality that harm does not arise from the technology itself but from how digital work systems are designed, deployed and managed in practice.”

The legislation will impose a positive duty on employers to ensure these systems are implemented “safely and responsibly” with worker protection at front of mind.

It will also allow “entry permit holders”, such as unions, to inquire into and inspect relevant systems.

This clause in the amendments raised the ire of Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black.

“These new laws hand unions unprecedented access to any business or worker’s computer system, without notice, to go through emails, personal data and more,” Black told the Australian Financial Review.

“The proposed changes risk slowing Australia’s digital and AI adoption by making everyday business technology harder and riskier to use.”

The reforms come after a 2022 NSW inquiry found that outdated laws in the state are allowing “unchecked and unchallenged” employers unfettered use of technology to conduct surveillance on their workers.

Earlier this year it was revealed that an Australian compliance training company had been accused of turning the laptops of some of its workers into listening devices in order to monitor them while they worked.

The company said the monitoring served a legitimate business purpose and was covered by its surveillance policy that employees had agreed to.