What does the law say about photographing children at sport?

Play by the Rules says laws on photography and filming in Australia are limited. They generally relate to voyeuristic images, surveillance devices and image-based abuse (sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent).

At events in public areas, there are no laws restricting photography of people, including children, as long as the images are not illegal. Sport Integrity Australia lists images as illegal if they are:

• indecent (such as "up skirt" or "down-blouse" photos)
• taken covertly in change rooms or toilets
• taken or used for sexual pleasure
• for the purpose of observing a person's genital or anal region
• protected by a court order (such as child custody or witness protection)
• defamatory
• taken of a person for commercial purposes (to endorse or sell a product) without their knowledge and consent.

It is also illegal to produce, share or distribute child sexual abuse images, including images of someone's own child. In public areas, organisers cannot impose extra photography rules on the public, but should tell participants, parents and spectators that photos can be taken without prior consent.

At private venues (a club's own facility, or school or council venues), the venue owner can restrict, ban or require permission for photography anywhere in the venue.

Sources: Sport Integrity Australia, Photography and Filming of Children and Young People in Sport (February 2024); Play by the Rules, Taking and Sharing Images at Sport (June 2025).