AI in hiring and Australian law.
Updated 16 October 2026
Australia doesn’t have an AI-specific hiring law. Instead, the laws you already work under apply to AI tools too. Here’s what matters most when AI touches candidates.
1. Privacy Act and the APPs
The Privacy Act 1988 ↗ and its 13 Australian Privacy Principles ↗ cover how you collect, use, disclose and store personal information, which includes CVs, interview notes and assessment results.
- Who it covers. Generally businesses with annual turnover over 3 million dollars, plus some smaller businesses. The OAIC explains the small business rules and exceptions ↗, and recommends protecting personal information as best practice even if you’re exempt.
- Putting candidate data into AI tools. The OAIC’s guidance on commercially available AI products ↗ recommends, as best practice, not entering personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available AI chatbots.
- Using data for what it was collected for. If you collected a CV for one role, think about whether running it through a new AI tool fits that purpose and what your privacy policy says.
- Data breaches. If an AI vendor leaks candidate data, the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme ↗ may require you to notify affected people and the OAIC.
2. Automated decisions: new rules from 10 December 2026
The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 ↗ adds APP 1.7 to 1.9. From 10 December 2026, if a computer program uses personal information to make a decision, or to do something substantially and directly related to making it, and that decision could reasonably be expected to significantly affect someone’s rights or interests, your privacy policy needs to say so.
For recruiters, think automatic rejections, AI scoring that decides who gets a call, or ranking tools that drop people off a shortlist. Work out which of your tools do this now, before the date.
3. Fair Work Act general protections
The Fair Work Act 2009 ↗ protects prospective employees, not just staff, from adverse action for discriminatory reasons such as race, sex, age or disability. A tool that filters people out on those grounds, even indirectly, is still the employer’s action. Fair Work Ombudsman ↗ has plain-English guides.
4. Anti-discrimination law
Federal laws make it unlawful to discriminate when deciding who is offered a job: the Sex Discrimination Act ↗, Racial Discrimination Act ↗, Disability Discrimination Act ↗ and Age Discrimination Act ↗. Each state and territory has its own law too. The Australian Human Rights Commission ↗ covers the federal side.
AI can discriminate without anyone meaning it to, for example by favouring CVs that look like past hires, or penalising career gaps. Test tools for this and keep a person reviewing every rejection.
A practical checklist
- List every tool that touches candidate data, and what it decides or recommends.
- Ask each vendor where data is stored, whether it’s used to train their models, and whether you can switch AI features off.
- Keep a human reviewing any AI-driven rejection or ranking.
- Update your privacy policy and candidate notices, especially before 10 December 2026.
- Tell candidates when interviews are recorded or AI is used, and check your state’s recording laws.
- Use de-identified data when trialling a new tool.
Related
Questions
Is it legal to use AI to screen candidates in Australia?
There’s no general ban. Existing laws still apply, including the Privacy Act, the Fair Work Act general protections and federal and state anti-discrimination laws. The person or business making the hiring decision remains responsible for it.
Can I paste a CV into ChatGPT?
The OAIC recommends, as best practice, that organisations don’t enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available AI chatbots. Use a business tool your organisation has approved, or remove identifying details first.
What changes on 10 December 2026?
New Australian Privacy Principle requirements (APP 1.7 to 1.9) start. Privacy policies must explain when a computer program uses personal information to make, or substantially and directly help make, decisions that could significantly affect someone’s rights or interests.