Privacy Minister Brendan O'Connor insists the media will still have the freedom to publish what is in the public interest under announcements on privacy made by the federal government today.
The government will consider legislating a statutory cause of action for serious invasions of privacy, paving the way for Australians to sue media organisations for any breaches.
"Right now there is no general right to privacy in Australia," he said on Thursday.
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"That means there's no certainty for anyone wanting to sue for an invasion of their privacy."
The government plans to publish an issues paper soon and invite submissions from the public.
The Australian Law Reform Commission three years ago made 295 recommendations for changes to privacy regulation and policy.
One of the recommendations included a proposal to introduce a statutory cause of action for serious breaches of privacy.
Newspaper groups Fairfax and News Ltd have both released statements cautious of changes to the law, while the ABC has called for balance.
The timing of the move has raised eyebrows in some sections of the media, as it comes in a week when Prime Minister Julia Gillard and one of her ministers took pot shots at News Limited publications.
But Mr O'Connor argues the timing has more to do with the UK phone-hacking scandal and the growth of modern communications technology.
"I'm not suggesting there is any evidence there is examples here similar to what has occurred overseas but ... it has shone a light on the concern that people have about the rights of people's privacy vis-a-vis the rights of people to express things freely.
"It is an appropriate time now to consider whether we have got the balance right."
ABBOTT: DON'T INTIMIDATE THE MEDIA
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the tougher privacy laws shouldn't be used to intimidate the media and remains unconvinced about the government's motives.
"The last thing I want to do is to support anything which is a thinly-veiled attempt to intimidate the press," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"Politicians don't always like the coverage that they get, but if you are in public life you have got to take the rough with the smooth."
Greens deputy leader Christine Milne told ABC Radio she rejected suggestions tougher privacy laws would curtail freedom of the press.
"Well, it shouldn't if the press stick with the code of ethics that it has and says it adheres to."
Senator Milne said the government should take up the recommendations of the law reform commission.
"They don't make those recommendations lightly," she said.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION
Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull agrees there should be debate about a statutory right to privacy, but warned against linking it to the phone-hacking scandal.
"We really do need to make sure that any discussion doesn't become a sort of antipodean re-run of the News of the World inquiries in the UK," he told ABC Radio.
"If we're going to look at privacy, we should look right across all media and have a honest debate about how much privacy we are entitled to."
