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Call recording consent in Australia

Recording phone calls in Australia is lawful when it is done in the right way. This page explains the rules in plain language, what Call Tracking does to help, and what remains the business's responsibility.

Not legal advice

This page is general information. Laws differ between states and territories and change over time. The business that records calls is responsible for complying with them. Get legal advice for your situation.

The rules in brief

  • Intercepting calls is prohibited. The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) prohibits listening to or recording a call passing over the telecommunications network without the knowledge of the people on it.
  • Recording your own calls is governed by state and territory law. Each state and territory has a surveillance devices or listening devices act. In most of them, recording a private conversation you are part of requires the consent of everyone on the call. Queensland is the exception, where a party to the conversation may record it. The acts are: Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NSW), Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic), Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 (Qld), Surveillance Devices Act 2016 (SA), Surveillance Devices Act 1998 (WA), Listening Devices Act 1991 (Tas), Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT) and Surveillance Devices Act 2007 (NT).
  • Recordings are personal information. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles govern how a business that is covered by the Act collects, stores, uses and discloses recordings.

Because callers can be anywhere in Australia, the practical approach is to inform every caller that the call may be recorded before the conversation starts, so that continuing the call is their consent.

What Call Tracking does

  • Recording is off until you turn it on. New tracking sites don't record.
  • A consent message can play before the call is forwarded. When the preamble is enabled, the caller hears it before the destination rings. Use the default notice, your own text, or a recorded message.
  • The preamble is a separate setting. Enabling recording doesn't enable the preamble. Set both when you turn recording on. See Record calls and play a consent message.
  • Recordings are stored in Australia and kept for up to 1 year.
  • Access is controlled by project roles.
  • Recordings and transcripts aren't sent to any other system. Google Ads and Meta Ads receive call metadata and labels only. Google Analytics 4, HubSpot and Zapier also receive the AI summary.

What the business must do

  • Turn on the preamble, or tell callers another way, such as a message that plays in a Flow before the call is answered.
  • Tell staff who answer calls that calls are recorded, for example in an employment policy.
  • Cover call recording in the business's privacy policy.
  • Give people who ask about their recordings a way to reach the business.
  • Restrict Console access to people who need it, and remove users who leave.

Turning the preamble off

Disable the preamble only when the business has confirmed it informs callers another way. Record that decision. Enfonica recommends leaving it on.

The default notice tells the caller the call may be recorded. If you write your own, keep it short and clear, for example:

Welcome to Example Plumbing. This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.

Name the business so callers who dialled a tracking number aren't confused by an unfamiliar number.