A Hobart council candidate is calling for smart glasses to be banned from the local aquatic centre, playgrounds and public beaches before summer.
Susan Wallace, who is running for councillor and deputy lord mayor, is calling on the Hobart City Council to act quickly to protect people from being filmed without their knowledge.
Smart glasses look like ordinary eyewear but have built-in cameras that can record photos, video and audio.
Wallace said cheap wearable cameras were ‘flooding’ the market. She said the risk to women and girls was a particular concern.
“This issue has been coming down the line for a long time and a summer of covert surveillance approaches unless our councils take steps now,” she said.
“This is an important issue for safety – particularly for women and girls and I am disappointed [the] Hobart City Council is not ahead of this issue and prepared to act to protect our privacy.”
Wallace also took aim at sitting councillors.
“Perhaps if councillors spent less time talking about themselves and attacking each other we might have seen action to protect privacy and our most vulnerable already,” she said.
Councils on the mainland have already acted.
The Brisbane City Council has banned the non-consensual use of camera-enabled devices, including smart glasses, at its public pools.
Canterbury-Bankstown in Sydney has banned the glasses from its leisure centres and pools.
The City of Yarra in Melbourne has gone further, banning them from pools, gyms, playgrounds and childcare centres.
Wallace said any ban should include exemptions for people who rely on the glasses.
“There are, of course, important uses of these glasses as mobility aids and to support those with vision impairment and they must be taken into account, but covert surveillance and recording needs to be ruled out,” she said.
The federal government has ruled out banning imports of smart glasses.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has instead encouraged councils and businesses to set their own rules.
Under Tasmania’s Listening Devices Act 1991, it is already an offence to record a private conversation without consent.
Wallace wants the council to move before the warmer months.
“We need to feel safe in our public spaces and our council should be on the case, not lagging behind,” she said.
