When you go for a walk around your neighbourhood, are you noticing an increase in the number of surveillance cameras? If your neighbour installs a security camera pointing directly at your property, what are your legal rights? The Law Report on RN is running a special series called Bad Neighbours which focuses on some of major types of neighbour disputes.
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TVTranscript
00:00 There is no general right to privacy here in Australia.
00:05 We do have privacy legislation at the federal level and at the state level, but most of
00:10 those laws are aimed at data protection, so not really relevant in this circumstance.
00:16 We do have surveillance laws in the states, but they only apply in very limited ways and
00:25 only prohibit certain types of recordings in very limited circumstances.
00:30 We also have criminal offences where there is an illicit intention, maybe stalking or
00:37 peeping Tom sort of intentions.
00:40 But the general rule is that whatever you can see with your naked eye from your property
00:46 or from the street, you can record, and that's the general principle.
00:50 And what about those dark glass dome cameras that are becoming more popular, what are the
00:55 laws around those?
00:57 You're talking there as, well they're known as pan, tilt, zoom cameras, and they're common
01:04 in commercial premises, but also increasingly common in houses, residential houses.
01:08 Now there was a case a few years ago, Zarn and the City of Sydney, and in that case it
01:14 was a kind of a planning approval process, and the developers wanted to erect six of
01:20 these PTZ cameras, and the neighbours said, we don't want them, they're a nuisance.
01:28 And the court agreed and said, look, these are a menacing panoptic mechanism, and it
01:34 would have allowed the developers, or the people who took over the property, to kind
01:40 of look into the private courtyards of all these people, so it wasn't allowed.
01:45 And there was actually recently a South Australian case which was an actual nuisance case, not
01:49 a planning case, and there the PTZ camera was on a three minute rotation, it would kind
01:55 of revolve around, and for over half the time of that three minute rotation it was focused
01:59 on the neighbours' property.
02:01 And the judge said, no, that actually is really interfering with the use and enjoyment of
02:07 the neighbour, not because it's necessarily recording, but just because it's actually
02:10 freaking the neighbour out.
02:12 And that's what we're talking about here, not the actual recording itself, but the interference
02:17 with the use and enjoyment of your land, your property.
02:21 And what should you do then if you have concerns about a neighbour's surveillance cameras?
02:26 Chat to your neighbour, tell them about your concerns, follow it up with an email or a
02:32 letter, always good to have a paper trail when you're in conflict with your neighbours.
02:37 Look, check out the surveillance laws and the criminal laws in your state or territory,
02:42 there might be some application there, but unlikely.
02:46 Then you might find that you want to pursue this, so maybe approach a mediation service
02:52 or your local council, sometimes have those mediation services, or your local community
02:59 legal service.
03:01 And start a negotiation or a dialogue with your neighbour.
03:07 If you're really concerned you're not getting anywhere, you can commence a nuisance action,
03:11 but these are very expensive and you probably need to get legal advice before you embark
03:15 on that expensive, long court process.
03:19 Damien, the Law Report is running a special series called Bad Neighbours.
03:25 This week you're focusing on security cameras, but what other issues will you be looking
03:29 at?
03:30 Well we've concentrated already in previous episodes on smells, and in coming weeks we're
03:36 looking at things like pets and even barbecues, what you can do there.
03:40 We've also, in coming weeks, we're going to be looking at fences, and also parking in
03:47 apartment blocks, which can be a real issue.
03:49 And we've also got our back catalogue from Season 1 which looked at things like noise,
03:54 shading out of solar panels by neighbours' trees or upward extensions.
04:00 Trees that cause damage are a big one, and pets in apartments.
04:04 So look, neighbourhood disputes are everywhere, and hopefully this information can help people
04:09 navigate their way through these disputes.
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