Qantas report clarifies Australian privacy obligations after data breach
By Sean Maguire ( July 21, 2026, 07:02 GMT | Insight) -- Australia's privacy regulator has concluded that Qantas Airways likely did not breach the 1988 Privacy Act in connection with a 2025 data breach affecting around 5 million people, saying the airline had taken reasonable steps to protect personal information. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner found the breach resulted from a sophisticated attack on an overseas contact center and said Qantas acted quickly to contain and remediate the incident. Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind declined to open a full investigation, stressing that a data breach does not necessarily mean an organization has failed to comply with privacy law. Australia's privacy regulator said Qantas Airways likely did not breach the 1988 Privacy Act in connection with a 2025 data breach that affected around 5 million people.The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, or OAIC, on Thursday published its report after almost a year of preliminary inquiries, finding no indication that Qantas had failed to take reasonable steps to protect personal information or ensure its overseas contractor complied with the Australian Privacy Principles (see here)....
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