Australia has confirmed an incoming legislative change will significant strengthen its online privacy laws following a spate of data breaches in recent weeks — such as the Optus telco breach last month.“Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing safeguards are inadequate.Additional changes trailed by Dreyfus include greater powers for the Australian information commissioner and a beefed up Notifiable Data Breaches scheme to provide the privacy watchdog with a more comprehensive view of what’s been compromised in a breach, also so it can assess the risk of harm to individuals.The Attorney-General’s Department is also undertaking a comprehensive review of the Privacy Act that’s due to be completed this year, with recommendations expected for further reform, it said.“I look forward to support from across the Parliament for this Bill, which is an essential part of the Government’s agenda to ensure Australia’s privacy framework is able to respond to new challenges in the digital era."