Australia
Australia has full freedom of panorama and liberal street-photo rights, but drone shots may fall outside the panorama exception.
Guidance, not legal advice
Permit
Conditional
Issuer: Land managers, councils, and national park authorities for commercial shoots and managed sites; no permit for personal street photography
Cost: No permit for personal photography in public; commercial shoots and managed locations usually need a permit or filming agreement
Photographing people in public is legal with no general consent requirement. Commercial shoots and managed locations such as national parks, councils, and the Sydney Opera House precinct usually need a permit.
Drone / airspace
Regulated by CASA for safety (registration, sub-2kg rules, distance and no-fly zones); privacy is handled separately
For the category detail, see Drone Authority.
Street / public space
Yes: Australia has no general statutory right to one's image in public
A 2025 amendment to the Privacy Act added a statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy, which can reach intrusive filming including by drone. Commercial use of a person's image can raise passing-off issues.
Freedom of panorama
Full
Copyright Act 1968 sections 65 to 68 make it non-infringing to photograph buildings, sculptures, and works of artistic craftsmanship permanently in a public place. You can sell such images. Drone-captured shots may fall outside the exception, so shoot from a public vantage point.
Practical notes
- You can sell a street-level photo of the Sydney Opera House for copyright purposes, but the venue imposes its own commercial-shoot and trademark conditions on-site.
- Do not rely on the panorama exception for drone shots of public sculpture; capture from a publicly accessible spot.
Sources
Keep shooting
Knowing the rules is half the job. The craft side: