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This week's Asia-Pacific Dashboard Digest contribution marks my 10th in 2025, and looking back, its been an amazing year to be in the privacy, artificial intelligence governance and digital responsibility sectors. Also the IAPP's 25th anniversary year, 2025 has been a great opportunity to reflect as an organization — particularly in the APAC region, where our growth and uptake across major markets such as Australia, China, India and Indonesia have fueled the fastest growth among the IAPP global membership community.
As I write this, we are about to convene in Sydney, Australia for the final stop on the IAPP's major events calendar, the IAPP ANZ Summit 2025. A record number of registrants will gather for two days of content and community, followed by a two-day intensive in-person training experience for the AI Governance Professional training and certification program. Thank you to all supporting the ANZ Summit 2025 and training program, and best wishes for a great experience over the week.
Looking back on the past year in Australia, there has been follow through on the federal government's work in passing important legislation to begin the process of reforming and updating the Privacy Act for the digital age. The first tranche of reforms included such important milestones as the new tort for serious breaches of privacy, which is now seeing its first test case since coming into effect in June. This will be closely watched by the IAPP community as it plays out.
Another world first and groundbreaking legislative move is the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, restricting the use of certain social media platforms by users under age 16. The law is due to take effect 10 Dec., immediately after the ANZ Summit, barring any late action to block or delay it. There is an action underway to challenge the bill's validity, so we'll wait to see what the courts say. From a privacy perspective, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has a role to play in ensuring the age assurance activities that will be required by platforms do not breach the Privacy Act and provide adequate and reasonable protections for all Australians regardless of their age.
2025 has been an exceptional year in many ways, not all of them positive. I've taken solace in the IAPP's mission to maintain focus and prioritize what matters most — helping members uplift their own knowledge, understanding and contributions to the professions of privacy, AI governance and digital responsibility, all while staying true to its values as an organization.
Together, it feels like we've finished the year in a better place than when we started — I look forward to celebrating that fact at the IAPP ANZ Summit this week and into the year ahead. Safe travels and best regards for the coming holiday season across the APAC region.
Adam Ford is the managing director, Australia, New Zealand, for the IAPP.
This article originally appeared in the Asia-Pacific Dashboard Digest, a free weekly IAPP newsletter. Subscriptions to this and other IAPP newsletters can be found here.