Source: Privacy Commissioner
The increasing number of privacy complaints, and privacy breach notifications, received by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner shows New Zealanders’ increased concerns about privacy are fast becoming reality, the Privacy Commissioner says.
“Privacy complaints in our 2024/25 Annual Report are up 21% from 2023/24, which was also a record year. The number of serious privacy breaches notified by organisations rose 43% this year.
“New Zealanders are saying they’re more concerned about their individual privacy and personal information and it’s easy to see why. People are right to worry, as more needs to be done to improve New Zealander’s privacy,” Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster says.
Our 2025 Privacy Survey showed that:
- 66% of those surveyed agreed that protecting personal privacy is a major concern.
- 67% are concerned about the privacy of children.
- 62% are concerned about government agencies or businesses using AI to make decisions about them, using their personal information.
- 82% agree they want more control and choice over the collection and use of their personal information.
“The reputational damage and financial costs associated with privacy breaches, and not protecting or respecting individuals’ personal information, should provide a spur to encouraging organisations to do privacy well. But my Office also understands people need help to understand how to do that.
This year, we’ve written guidance on a range of subjects for different audiences, including on children’s privacy and use of biometric technology, we hosted a series of webinars during Privacy Week which saw over 8,000 New Zealanders take part, and we have continued to advocate for modernisation of New Zealand’s Privacy Act.
“The Privacy Act currently provides insufficient incentives for many organisations to understand or meet even the most basic privacy requirements. For example, a growing number of organisations do not establish policies and practices to effectively manage the privacy impacts of their activities. Other countries have modernised their privacy regimes beyond our own to capture the benefits and avoid the harm of new technologies.
“We continue to recommend amendments to the Act that would modernise it and strengthen privacy outcomes. Our 2025 Survey also showed strong support for strengthening the Privacy Commissioner’s powers under the Act.”
The amendments include:
- Empowering New Zealanders to better protect themselves with new rights, such as a ‘right to erasure’, that would provide individuals with the right to ask agencies to delete their personal information.
- Adding strong incentives for agencies to take privacy seriously through establishing a new and significantly stronger penalty regime.
- Requiring agencies to be able to demonstrate how they meet their privacy requirements, in similar ways to the privacy management programmes recommended by the OECD.
- Providing New Zealanders with stronger protections for automated decision making.
Read more about this year’s Annual Report including a download of the full document.
