Federal government to outlaw doxxing, impose up to seven years' jail for malicious sharing of personal data

It follows the personal details of hundreds of Jewish Australians being published online.

What's next?

The government will also introduce its hate speech bill to parliament, but it is not expected to be as strong as initially proposed.

The malicious release of personal data online, known as doxxing, would be outlawed and attract up to seven years in jail under new legislation being introduced to federal parliament on Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to outlaw the practice after the details of a private WhatsApp group involving hundreds of Jewish Australians were published online in February.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus will unveil the details of the new offence as part of broader reforms that he says will bring the Privacy Act into the digital age.

"Australians have got the right to have their privacy respected and when they're asked to hand over their personal data they have a right to expect it will be respected," he said.

"This is an act that was passed in 1988. In many, many ways it's just not fit for the digital age.

"The malicious release of personal data online is something that ought to be criminalised."

The bill will impose a maximum six years' imprisonment for publishing private details such as names, addresses and numbers, with the intent of causing harm.

That will be increased to seven years where a person or group is targeted on the basis of their race, religion, s*x, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality or ethnic origin.

Australians will also be given the right to sue for damages if they have been the victim of a serious invasion of privacy, with the creation of a new statutory tort.

Mr Dreyfus said additional protections will be introduced for minors.

"Children are very often not able to detect when their privacy is being invaded, when they're being manipulated in quite the way that adults can guard against those things and that's why we're looking to develop a children's online privacy code that's going to impose requirements on the social media platforms on digital providers," he said.

The reforms are the first tranche of a promised modernisation of the Privacy Act with several other phases unlikely to be introduced before the federal election, due in May.

Privacy advocates have called for the removal of a clause exempting small businesses with an annual turnover of $3 million or less from being required to protect personal information and disclose how it is used.

That change is not included in this phase.

Mr Dreyfus will also introduce the government's hate speech bill on Thursday but that legislation is expected to be weaker than the government's original proposal.