Is it legal to record a conversation in Tasmania?
In Tasmania 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 pass 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 agrees. Someone who records with a speaker's consent counts as a party, so this offence stops reaching them and the rules for a participant apply instead 1
- Sharing a recording
- Restricted. Communicating or publishing a recording you made is a separate offence, though s 10(2) sets out several situations where it is allowed — 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 $8,520 or 2 years in prison for an individual. A company faces up to $106,500 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 Tasmania 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 the recording has to be reasonably necessary to protect your own 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 Tasmania?
Yes, if the recording is for you.
The Act opens with a ban that covers both situations: recording other people, and recording a conversation you are in. 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 5(1), (3) When a participant may record Listening Devices Act 1991 (Tas) 1
(1) A person shall not use, or cause or permit to be used, a listening device – (a) to record or listen to a private conversation to which the person is not a party; or (b) to record a private conversation to which the person is a party. […] (3) Subsection 1 (b) does not apply to the use of a listening device by a party to a private conversation if – (a) all of the principal parties to the conversation consent, expressly or impliedly, to the listening device being so used; or (b) a principal party to the conversation consents to the listening device being so used and – (i) the recording of the conversation is reasonably necessary for the protection of the lawful interests of that principal party; or (ii) the recording of the conversation is not made for the purpose of communicating or publishing the conversation, or a report of the conversation, to persons who are not parties to the conversation.
Which one you rely on depends on why you are recording.
Keeping the recording to yourself is the everyday route. If you are not making it to pass on to people who weren’t there, you are exempt on that basis alone. 1
Recording it in order to hand it to an outsider closes that route. Two remain. Either everyone who spoke agrees to the recording, or it is reasonably necessary to protect your own interests. 1
Whose agreement counts is narrower than it sounds. It has to come from the people actually speaking or being spoken to, whom the Act calls the principal parties. A silent listener, there with permission, is not one of them. 1
s 3 Who counts as a party to a conversation Listening Devices Act 1991 (Tas) 1
party, in relation to a private conversation, means – (a) a person by or to whom words are spoken in the course of the conversation; or (b) a person who, with the consent, express or implied, of any of the persons by or to whom words are spoken in the course of the conversation, records or listens to those words; […] principal party, in relation to a private conversation, means a person by or to whom words are spoken in the course of the conversation;
Can you record a conversation you’re not part of?
Usually not, and doing so carries up to 2 years in prison. 1
A speaker’s consent changes your position, though, through the definition just quoted. Record with the agreement of someone in the conversation and you count as a party to the conversation. This offence then stops applying to you, 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
Most of what is left is for people doing a job — warrants, Commonwealth authority, and police surveillance powers. Two exceptions are open to anyone, and neither helps a would-be eavesdropper. You can use a device where you reasonably believe you have to act immediately, because of an imminent threat of serious violence, serious damage to property, or a serious drug offence. And overhearing a private conversation by accident was never the offence. 1
The emergency ground brings duties with it. Within 3 days of first using the device you have to report the circumstances to the Chief Magistrate. The Chief Magistrate can order you to stop, and using it after that order is prohibited. If the use is accepted as justified, a further written report goes to the Chief Magistrate within a month of the device being switched off, and another to the Attorney-General. 1
Overhearing by accident is not a clean exit either. Passing on or publishing a conversation that reached you that way is a separate offence under s 9, and simply keeping a record of it is an offence under s 11. 1
Can you record a phone call in Tasmania?
Yes, on the same terms as any conversation you take part in. Being on the call puts you in the conversation. 1
One further rule comes from Commonwealth law: intercepting a call while it is still crossing the network is an offence. 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.
Timing is the dividing line. Recording the call once it has reached your phone sits outside the Commonwealth ban. Catching it in transit sits inside it, and carries up to 2 years in prison. 3
Can you share a recording in Tasmania?
This is where a lawful recording stops being yours to do as you like with. Passing on or publishing a recording you made is its own offence, whether or not making it was lawful. 1
s 10 Sharing a recording you made is a separate offence Listening Devices Act 1991 (Tas) 1
(1) A person who has been a party to a private conversation and has used, or caused to be used, a listening device to record the conversation (whether in contravention of section 5 or not), shall not subsequently communicate or publish to any other person any record of the conversation made, directly or indirectly, by the use of the device. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply where the communication or publication – (a) is made to another party to the private conversation or with the consent, express or implied, of all of the principal parties to the conversation; or (b) is made in the course of legal proceedings; or (c) is not more than is reasonably necessary for the protection of the lawful interests of the person making the communication or publication; or (d) is made to a person who has, or is, on reasonable grounds, by the person making the communication or publication, believed to have, such an interest in the private conversation as to make the communication or publication reasonable under the circumstances in which it is made; or (e) is made by a person who used the listening device to record the private conversation pursuant to a warrant granted under Part 4 or pursuant to an authority granted by or under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 of the Commonwealth or any other law of the Commonwealth. […]
The Act then lists when you can. You can give it to someone else who was in the conversation, or share it with the agreement of everyone who spoke. You can use it in legal proceedings. You can share it where that goes no further than is reasonably necessary to protect your own interests. And you can give it to someone with enough of a stake in the conversation to make sharing reasonable. 1
Outside the situations s 10(2) lists, sharing is an offence, carrying the same 2-year maximum as the recording itself. 1
s 12 The penalty for these offences Listening Devices Act 1991 (Tas) 1
A person who contravenes any provision of this Part for which no other penalty is specified is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction – (a) except as provided in paragraph (b), to a fine not exceeding 40 penalty units or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or both; or (b) where the offence was committed by a corporation, to a fine not exceeding 500 penalty units.
You have a recording in Tasmania. What now?
Was it lawful to make? If you were in the conversation, yes, provided the recording was for you, or everyone who spoke agreed, or it was reasonably necessary to protect your own interests. If you were not in the conversation and no speaker consented to your recording, it was an offence from the start. 1
Passing it on is a separate question. Tasmania restricts that 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. Someone else who was in the conversation. Anyone at all, if everyone who spoke agrees. A court, in legal proceedings. Someone with a real stake in the conversation. Or wider than that, where protecting your own interests reasonably requires it. 1
The figures. Recording unlawfully and sharing unlawfully each carry up to $8,520 or 2 years in prison, or both, for an individual. A company faces up to $106,500. The Act sets one penalty covering the offences in this Part, at the Tasmanian penalty unit value of $213. 2
What it costs to get it wrong
Common questions
Is it legal to record a conversation without consent in Tasmania?
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 it to publish to outsiders is not covered. 1
Can you record a phone call in Tasmania?
Yes, if you're on the call and it's for your own use. Being on it makes you part of the conversation. Intercepting a call that's still crossing the network is a separate Commonwealth offence. 3
Is it illegal to record someone without them knowing in Tasmania?
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 2 years in prison — 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 Tasmania?
Only in limited situations. Communicating or publishing a recording you made is its own offence unless it goes to another person who was there, everyone consents, it's for legal proceedings, or it's reasonably needed to protect you. 1
What is the penalty for illegally recording someone in Tasmania?
Up to $8,520 or 2 years in prison, or both, for an individual. A company faces up to $106,500. Those are 40 and 500 penalty units at the Tasmanian value of $213 a unit for 2026–27. The same maximum covers unlawful recording and sharing a recording you shouldn't. 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 1991 (Tas), ss 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
- Tasmanian Government Gazette No 22575, 27 May 2026, p 357, Notice under Penalty Units and Other Penalties Act 1987 s 4A — penalty unit = $213 for 2026–27
- Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth), ss 5F, 6, 7, 105
Sourced from the Tasmanian Legislation website at 7 Sept 2026. For the latest information on Tasmanian Government legislation please go to www.legislation.tas.gov.au. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Reproduced without changes. This is not an official version. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence.
© State of Tasmania. Sourced from gazette.tas.gov.au at 8 Sept 2026. Reproduced without changes. This is not an official version.
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 Tasmania
- Are e-bikes legal in Tasmania? Legal, with conditions
- Are e-scooters legal in Tasmania? Legal, with conditions
- How high can a fence be in Tasmania? Legal, with conditions
- What are the pool fence rules in Tasmania? Legal, with conditions
Recording conversations rules elsewhere
- Australian Capital Territory Legal, with conditions
- New South Wales Legal, with conditions
- Northern Territory Legal, with conditions
- Queensland Legal, with conditions
- South Australia 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 1991 (Tas), version current from 5 October 2018 to date.