Is it legal to record a conversation in the Australian Capital Territory?
In the ACT you can record a conversation you're part of unless you're recording it in order to pass it on to outsiders. Sharing a recording you made is a separate offence, even a lawful one.
- Recording a talk you're in
- Yes, if the recording is for you — that on its own is enough. Recording it in order to hand it to someone who wasn't there needs everyone's agreement, or a reason that protects your interests 1
- Recording one you're not in
- An offence, unless a speaker has agreed to you recording it. Their agreement makes you a party to the conversation, and the participant rules take over 1
- Sharing a recording
- Restricted. Passing on or publishing a recording is a separate offence unless one of the exceptions in s 5(2) applies — among them giving it to someone else who was in the conversation, everyone's agreement, a court, or where it's reasonably needed to protect you 1
- Biggest penalty
- Up to $8,000 for recording, and $8,000 or 6 months in prison for sharing a recording, for an individual. A company faces up to $40,500 1
- Phone calls
- A call you're on is a conversation you're part of, so you can record it for your own use. Intercepting a call still crossing the network is a separate Commonwealth offence 3
In the ACT you can record a conversation you’re part of, as long as the recording is for you. 1
That changes if you’re recording it in order to give it to someone who wasn’t in the conversation. Then you need one of two things: everyone who spoke has to agree, or you have to have reasonable grounds to believe the recording is necessary to protect your interests. 1
Recording a conversation you’re not part of is a separate offence. So is passing on a recording you made, even a lawful one.
Can you record a conversation you’re part of in the ACT?
Yes, if the recording is for you.
The offence is framed around intention: using a listening device meaning to record a private conversation, whether or not you are in it. A private conversation is one the people having it clearly meant to keep to themselves. If you’d reasonably expect to be overheard, it isn’t private to begin with. Three exemptions then follow for someone in the conversation. 1
s 4(1), (3) When a participant may record Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT) 1
4 Use of listening devices (1) A person must not use a listening device with the intention of— (a) listening to or recording a private conversation to which the person is not a party; or (b) recording a private conversation to which the person is a party. Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units. […] (3) Subsection (1) (b) does not apply to the use of a listening device by, or on behalf of, a party to a private conversation if— (a) each principal party to the conversation consents to that use of the listening device; or (b) a principal party to the conversation consents to the listening device being so used, and— (i) the recording of the conversation is considered by that principal party, on reasonable grounds, to be necessary for the protection of that principal party's lawful interests; or (ii) the recording is not made for the purpose of communicating or publishing the conversation, or a report of the conversation, to any person who is not a party to the conversation. […]
Which one applies depends on why you are recording.
If you are not making the recording to communicate or publish it to anyone outside the conversation, you are exempt on that basis alone. This is the route most personal recordings take. 1
Recording in order to hand it to an outsider closes that route, and two remain. Either everyone who spoke agrees to the recording, or you believe on reasonable grounds that you need it to protect your interests. 1
The agreement has to come from the right people. It is the people actually speaking or being spoken to who count, whom the Act calls the principal parties. Someone listening with permission is a party to the conversation, but not a principal one. 1
Dictionary Who counts as a party to a conversation Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT) 1
party, in relation to a private conversation, means— (a) a person who speaks, or is spoken to, in the course of the conversation; or (b) a person who, with the consent of any of the persons who speaks or is spoken to in the course of the conversation, listens to or records the conversation.
Can you record a conversation you’re not part of?
Usually not. Recording a private conversation you have no part in is the offence the section is built around. 1
One thing takes you outside it, and it is the definition just quoted. Record with the consent of someone in the conversation and you count as a party to that conversation. The offence no longer applies, and you stand where any other participant stands: the recording can be for you, or it needs everyone’s agreement or a protective reason. 1
Without a speaker’s consent, this is the offence you are looking at, and the ACT sets it apart from the others in one respect. It carries a fine of up to $8,000 for an individual and no term of imprisonment. 1
Can you record a phone call in the ACT?
Yes, on the same terms as any conversation you take part in. Being on the call makes you part of the conversation. 1
Commonwealth law adds one more offence: intercepting a call while it is still crossing the network. 3
s 6(1) What the Commonwealth means by intercepting a call Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) 3
(1) For the purposes of this Act (other than Schedule 1), but subject to this section, interception of a communication passing over a telecommunications system consists of listening to or recording, by any means, such a communication in its passage over that telecommunications system without the knowledge of the person making the communication.
The line between them is timing. Recording the call after it reaches your phone is outside the Commonwealth ban. Catching it in transit is inside it, and carries up to 2 years in prison — more than the ACT’s own recording offence. 3
Can you share a recording in the ACT?
Here the answer tightens. Passing on a record of a conversation you were in is a separate offence, and the section says in terms that it applies whether or not making the recording broke section 4. 1
s 5 Sharing a recording is a separate offence Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT) 1
5 Communication and publication of records of private conversations by parties (1) A person who is party to a private conversation commits an offence if— (a) the person divulges or communicates a record of the conversation; and (b) the person knows that the record was made, directly or indirectly, using a listening device (whether or not in contravention of section 4). Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units, imprisonment for 6 months or both. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the communication or publication— (a) is made to another party to the conversation; or (b) is made with the consent of each principal party to the conversation; or (c) is made in the course of civil or criminal proceedings; or (d) is considered by the party making it, on reasonable grounds, to be necessary for the protection of that party's lawful interests; or (e) is made to a person who is believed by the party on reasonable grounds to have such an interest in the conversation as to make the communication or publication reasonable in the circumstances; or (f) is made under an authority granted by or under a law in force in the ACT. […]
The exceptions are the practical part. You can give it to another person who was in the conversation. You can share it if every principal party consents. You can use it in civil or criminal proceedings. You can share it where you believe on reasonable grounds that you need to, to protect your interests. And you can give it to someone with enough of a stake in the conversation to make that reasonable. 1
Outside the exceptions s 5(2) lists — the list also covers sharing under an authority granted by an ACT law — sharing carries up to $8,000 or 6 months in prison, or both. Note where the prison term sits: on sharing a recording, not on making one. 1
You have a recording in the ACT. What now?
Was it lawful to make? If you were in the conversation, yes, provided the recording was not made to pass on to outsiders, or everyone who spoke agreed, or you reasonably believed you needed it to protect your interests. If you were not in the conversation and no speaker consented, it was an offence from the start. 1
Passing it on is judged separately. The ACT restricts sharing whether or not the recording was lawful, so a clean recording does not come with a free hand. 1
Who you can give it to. Another person who was in the conversation. Anyone, if every principal party agrees. A court. Someone with a real stake in the conversation. Or wider, where you reasonably believe protecting your interests requires it. 1
The figures. For an individual: up to $8,000 for recording, and up to $8,000 or 6 months in prison for sharing. A company faces up to $40,500. Each of these offences is 50 penalty units. A unit is $160 for a person and $810 for a company, which is how the same 50 units reach a much larger figure. 2
What it costs to get it wrong
Common questions
Is it legal to record a conversation without consent in the ACT?
Yes, if you're in it and you're not recording it to pass on to outsiders. As a participant you can record a private conversation for your own use, or where it's reasonably needed to protect your interests. Recording to leak it to outsiders is not covered. 1
Can you record a phone call in the ACT?
Yes, if you're on the call and it's for your own use. Being on it makes you part of the conversation. Intercepting someone's call while it's still crossing the network is a separate Commonwealth offence. 3
Is it illegal to record someone without them knowing in the ACT?
Only if you're recording it to pass on to outsiders, or you're not part of the conversation at all. Recording a conversation you're not in carries up to $8,000 — unless one of the speakers agreed to you recording, which makes you a party to it. 1
Can I share a recording of a conversation in the ACT?
Only in limited situations. Sharing a recording made with a device is its own offence unless it goes to another person who was there, everyone consents, it's for civil or criminal proceedings, or it's reasonably needed to protect you. 1
What is the penalty for illegally recording someone in the ACT?
Up to $8,000 for the recording itself. Sharing a recording you shouldn't carries up to $8,000 or 6 months in prison. Those are 50 penalty units at the ACT value of $160 a unit for an individual. 2
Every source on this page
The small numbered marks throughout this page point to this list — 1 means source 1 below.
- Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT), ss 4, 5, 6 and Dictionary
- Legislation Act 2001 (ACT), s 133(2) (penalty unit = $160 individual, $810 corporation)
- Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth), ss 5F, 6, 7, 105
© Australian Capital Territory. Sourced from the ACT Legislation Register at 7 Sept 2026. For current law please go to https://www.legislation.act.gov.au. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Reproduced without changes. This is not an official version. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 7 Sept 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Reproduced without changes. This is not an official version. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
Other rules for Australian Capital Territory
- Are e-bikes legal in the ACT? Legal, with conditions
- Are e-scooters legal in the ACT? Legal, with conditions
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Recording conversations rules elsewhere
- New South Wales Legal, with conditions
- Northern Territory Legal, with conditions
- Queensland Legal, with conditions
- South Australia Legal, with conditions
- Tasmania Legal, with conditions
- Victoria Legal, with conditions
- Western Australia Legal, with conditions
Page history
Every change to this page
- 23 Sept 2026
- First published. Current to the Listening Devices Act 1992 (ACT), republication 10 (effective 11 February 2022), and to the ACT penalty unit value of $160 for an individual.