The WA Privacy Reset 1 min read

In WA, “reasonably necessary” is no longer good enough.

The gap between “reasonably necessary” and “necessary” sounds like lawyer’s pedantry. In WA, from today, it decides whether your data collection is lawful.

Under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, an organisation may collect personal information that is “reasonably necessary” for its functions. WA’s new Act sets a higher bar. Collection must be “necessary”. The qualifier is gone.

For anyone gathering personal information on behalf of a WA public entity, including recruiters running Government panels, that single word tightens the test. The Act also requires a written record of the purpose before information is collected, plain-language collection notices, and, where you collect from a third party rather than the individual, reasonable steps to satisfy yourself that the original collection was lawful.

In practice, this rewards data minimisation. If you cannot tie a field on your form to something genuinely necessary for the role or the service, that is now a reason to stop collecting it. Review your intake forms and notices against the “necessary” standard.
This article is part of a short-read series collaboration by Nguma Pty Ltd and Onpoint 365 on Australian Government hiring.
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