Rule of Law Institute Chairman Robin Speed is voicing concerns about the government's plan to revisit a statutory privacy tort under which individuals could sue for a "serious invasion of privacy," reports The Australian. Speed's comments come as federal Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor prepares to release an issues paper on the matter. Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim recently outlined alternatives to a tort. According to Speed, the initiative is aimed at intimidating the media, but his concerns are centered on ordinary citizens. Calling the basis of the tort subjective and emotive, Speed says the commission offered "no proper evidentiary basis to support it--apart from the fact that emotionally 'we don't like our privacy to be invaded.'"
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