Strata CCTV rules by state: NSW, Victoria and Queensland

Common-property CCTV is governed mainly by your state's surveillance-devices law and your scheme's by-law, not the Privacy Act. Victoria makes it an offence to optically record a private activity without consent; New South Wales regulates optical surveillance more narrowly, and Queensland has no general optical-surveillance offence: its Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 regulates listening devices only, and visual recording is left to narrower offences such as Criminal Code (Qld) s 227A. Whichever state, the safe practical rule is the same: keep cameras off private lots and disable audio. These laws bind you even if your business is inside the small-business exemption.

By Jon Oates, Founder of Privaproof · Last updated 8 September 2026

General information, document templates and tools you tailor, not legal advice. Privaproof is not a law practice.

Need to know

Common-property CCTV is governed mainly by your state's surveillance-devices law and your scheme's by-law, and that state law binds you regardless of the Privacy Act, so it reaches even a small manager under the A$3 million small-business exemption.
Victoria makes it an offence to optically record a private activity without consent; New South Wales regulates optical surveillance more narrowly, turning on entering premises or interfering with a device rather than on recording a private activity. In every state, keep common-property cameras on shared areas and never aimed into or across private lots.
Queensland is the outlier: it has historically had no general optical-surveillance offence and regulates only audio under the Invasion of Privacy Act 1971, though body-corporate approval and (if you are a covered APP entity) the Privacy Act still apply.
The safe baseline in every state is to get a by-law or body-corporate approval before switching cameras on, disable audio on all common-property cameras, and add signage plus secure, short-retention storage with a named list of who may view footage.

Two different laws, and only one depends on your turnover

Before the state detail, hold the structure clear, because most templates blur it.

State surveillance-devices law governs where cameras may point, whether audio may be recorded, and who may view footage. It applies to the camera itself and binds you regardless of the Privacy Act, so it reaches even a small independent manager who is under A$3 million and outside the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
The Privacy Act (APPs) governs the footage as personal information once you hold it, but only if your managing-agent business is a covered APP entity (turnover over A$3 million, or a related body corporate of a larger covered group). If you are genuinely exempt, the APPs do not reach your footage, but the surveillance law still does. Read: does the Privacy Act apply to strata managers?

So "am I covered by the Privacy Act?" and "is this camera lawful?" are two separate questions with two separate answers. This page is about the first law: the state surveillance rule that applies to every scheme.

The rules that hold in every state

Wherever your buildings are, these apply:

Common-property cameras normally need the scheme's approval, and the threshold differs by state. In New South Wales, fixing cameras to common property is ordinarily an addition to or alteration of common property, and s 108(2) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) allows that only if a special resolution has first specifically authorised the particular action proposed. A scheme can also make a by-law about the use of the common property, including the cameras (s 136(1)), which itself needs a special resolution (s 141(1)). The Act names neither surveillance nor cameras. Victoria and Queensland get there by different routes, and neither is automatic. In Victoria, s 52 of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 bites only on a significant alteration to the use or appearance of common property. In Queensland, s 159 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 leaves the rule to the regulation module for the scheme, and under s 186(1) of the Standard Module a body corporate can make improvements costing no more than the basic improvements limit with no resolution at all. A manager should not switch on common-property cameras on their own authority.
Video only, never audio, unless you are certain. Every Australian jurisdiction makes it an offence to use a listening device to record a private conversation you are not a party to, including the three whose surveillance statutes say nothing about cameras at all (Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory). Where a state regulates cameras it usually treats vision and audio alike: in Victoria ss 6 and 7 carry the identical maximum. Audio is the one control that exists everywhere, which is why disabling it is the safest single setting. The safe baseline is to disable audio on all common-property cameras.
Keep the field of view off private lots. This is the practical rule rather than a single statutory line: New South Wales makes optical surveillance an offence only where installing or using the camera involved entry or interference (s 8), and Victoria's offence is confined to a "private activity", which its own definition excludes where the activity is carried on outside a building (s 3). Confining the view to genuinely shared areas is what keeps a scheme clear of the offences, the by-laws and the complaints at once.
Signage and controlled access. People should be told recording is taking place, and footage should be held securely with a short retention period and a defined list of who may view it. If your business is a covered APP entity, this is also an APP 5 (notice) and APP 11 (security and destruction) obligation, not just good practice.

The differences between states sit on top of that shared baseline, and they are real.

New South Wales

New South Wales regulates optical surveillance under the Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW), but its optical-surveillance offence is narrower than Victoria's: it turns on how the camera was put there: s 8(1) is engaged only where installing, using or maintaining the device involves entry onto or into the premises or vehicle without the owner's or occupier's consent (s 8(1)(a)), or interference with the vehicle or other object without the consent of the person in lawful possession or control of it (s 8(1)(b)). There is no "private activity" element. Audio is the strict control (see below). In practice the rule that matters for common-property cameras is the same either way: they are appropriate over shared areas, but pointing one at a private lot, a specific unit's entrance, or an area where a resident has a reasonable expectation of privacy is the danger zone, and (if your business is a covered APP entity) the APPs apply to the footage.

Audio is stricter again: the same Act restricts listening devices, so recording private conversations on common property should be treated as off-limits.

Authorisation for the cameras themselves flows through the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) changes-to-common-property provision (s 108), by special resolution and commonly a supporting by-law. Read: CCTV and surveillance on strata common property

Victoria

Victoria has the clearest optical-surveillance offence of the three. The Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic) makes it generally an offence to knowingly use an optical surveillance device to record a private activity to which the person is not a party, without consent, subject to exceptions . That offence is narrower than it first sounds: s 3 defines a "private activity" to exclude an activity carried on outside a building, and one carried on where the parties ought reasonably to expect it may be observed. A camera over a shared corridor or car park will rarely record a private activity; one that sees into a habitable room is where s 7 is squarely in play.

Approval to install on common property runs through s 52 of the Owners Corporations Act 2006 (Vic), which stops an owners corporation making a significant alteration to the use or appearance of the common property unless it is first approved by special resolution, permitted by the maintenance plan, or agreed under s 53. Whether a camera install is "significant" is the question a Victorian scheme has to answer. Audio is again the tightest constraint, so keep common-property cameras video-only.

Queensland

Of the three states covered here, Queensland is the outlier, and it is the most important distinction on this page. Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are in the same position: their statutes cover listening devices only. Queensland has historically had no general optical-surveillance offence. Its Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 regulates audio (listening devices) but does not create the across-the-board offence for visually recording a private activity that Victoria does (New South Wales sits in between, with a narrower optical offence). ⚠️ This is the state distinction most likely to change, and it is worth knowing before you plan around it. The Queensland Law Reform Commission recommended criminal prohibitions covering optical, tracking and data surveillance devices in its Report No 77, and the Queensland government has consulted on introducing them in stages. Nothing had commenced when we last read the Queensland register, on 8 September 2026, so treat the position above as the position today rather than a settled one, and check before planning around the gap. The result is that visual recording of common property in Queensland is not caught by a surveillance-devices offence, but it is not unregulated. Criminal Code (Qld) s 227A makes it a misdemeanour to observe or visually record a person where a reasonable adult would expect privacy and the person is in a private place or engaging in a private act (s 207A defines that as showering or bathing, using a toilet, being in a state of undress, or intimate sexual activity). Section 359B(c)(iii)-(iv) can bring watching or surveilling a particular person within unlawful stalking. Nuisance and trespass still apply, as does approval to install.

That does not make Queensland a free-for-all. Three things still bite:

Audio is still regulated, so audio recording remains the high-risk feature to disable.
Body corporate approval depends on cost, not on the fact that it is a camera. Section 159 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld) leaves improvements to common property to the regulation module for the scheme. Under s 186(1) of the Standard Module, a body corporate can make an improvement at or below the basic improvements limit with no resolution, needs an ordinary resolution within the ordinary resolution improvement range, and a special resolution above that. Check which module applies to the scheme, because the modules differ.
If your management business is a covered APP entity, the footage is still personal information under the Privacy Act, so APP 5 notice and APP 11 security and destruction still apply regardless of the softer state surveillance position.

So the honest Queensland message is: the state surveillance-device barrier is lower, but the Privacy Act and body-corporate barriers are unchanged, and a manager operating across Queensland and other states should not assume the Queensland approach travels.

Other states: check your state

The remaining jurisdictions split two ways. Western Australia (Surveillance Devices Act 1998 s 6), South Australia (Surveillance Devices Act 2016 s 5) and the Northern Territory (Surveillance Devices Act 2007 s 12) each make optical surveillance of a private activity an offence, on their own wording and exceptions. Tasmania (Listening Devices Act 1991) and the Australian Capital Territory (Listening Devices Act 1992) are in Queensland's position: their statutes cover listening devices only and say nothing about cameras. Each jurisdiction also has its own strata or unit-titles rules for common-property approval. We cover New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland in depth and would rather tell you to confirm your own state's Act than imply we maintain all eight. Before you rely on any camera position, check the current surveillance-devices law for the state the building is in.

The practical rule for a strata manager

Put the three layers together and the workable position across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland is:

Get the scheme's approval in the form your state requires before any common-property camera goes live: a special resolution under SSMA s 108 in New South Wales, a special resolution under OCA s 52 in Victoria if the change is significant, and whatever s 186 of the applicable Queensland module requires for the cost.
Disable audio on every common-property camera, everywhere.
Aim cameras at shared areas only, never into or across private lots, and be especially careful in Victoria, where recording a private activity can be an offence, and keep cameras off private lots in every state regardless.
Put up signage and lock down footage: secure storage, a short retention period, and a named, short list of who may view it.
If your business is a covered APP entity, layer APP 5 notice and APP 11 security and destruction on top of the state rule, in every state including Queensland.

Get those five right and you are on the right side of the material differences between states. Read: facial recognition, ANPR and smart surveillance in strata buildings

Common questions

Is CCTV on strata common property covered by the Privacy Act or by state law?

Both can apply, but they are separate. Your state's surveillance-devices law governs the camera itself (where it may point, whether audio is allowed, who may view footage) and binds you regardless of turnover. The Privacy Act's APPs govern the footage as personal information, but only if your managing-agent business is a covered APP entity. A small exempt manager still has to obey the state surveillance law.

Can we point a common-property camera at a unit's front door?

In Victoria the offence in s 7(1) reaches this only if the camera records a "private activity", and s 3 excludes an activity carried on outside a building, so a camera on an external entrance is often outside the offence while one that sees into the room behind it is not. In New South Wales the optical-surveillance offence is narrower, but a private entrance can still attract a reasonable expectation of privacy and, if your business is covered, the APPs . The safe approach is to confine the field of view to genuinely shared common areas and keep cameras off private lots.

Is Queensland really different?

Yes. Queensland has no general optical-surveillance offence: the Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 regulates listening devices only, and the word "camera" does not appear in it. Visual recording of common property is instead limited by narrower rules, including Criminal Code (Qld) s 227A (observing or recording someone where a reasonable adult would expect privacy) and the unlawful-stalking provisions in s 359B, plus nuisance and trespass. Audio recording is still regulated, the body corporate's approval rules still apply, and if your business is a covered APP entity the Privacy Act still applies to the footage.

Can our cameras record audio?

Treat that as no. Recording private conversations is restricted far more strictly than vision across Australian jurisdictions, and in several it is a criminal offence. Disable audio on all common-property cameras unless you have specific, current advice that it is lawful in your state and situation.

Do we need owners' approval to install cameras?

Usually, and the test differs by state. New South Wales requires a special resolution for any addition to or alteration of common property (SSMA s 108(2)). Victoria requires one only where the change is a significant alteration to the use or appearance of common property (OCA s 52). Queensland turns on cost under the regulation module for the scheme (BCCMA s 159; Standard Module s 186). A manager should not install common-property surveillance on their own authority in any of them.

This is general information and document templates you tailor to your own business, not legal advice. Privaproof is not a law practice and does not provide legal advice. State surveillance-devices law and strata or body-corporate approval rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time, and so confirm the current law for the state your building is in. Whether the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) also applies to your footage depends on your business's turnover and structure. For advice on your specific circumstances, consult a qualified Australian legal practitioner.