Call recording disclosure wording: examples you can copy

The law in brief

Three layers of law apply when you record or transcribe a client call in Australia.

1. State and territory surveillance or listening devices Acts. These decide whether you may record a private conversation. New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory generally require the consent of all parties. Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory generally allow a person to record a conversation they are a party to.
2. The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth). Section 7 prohibits intercepting a communication passing over a telecommunications system. Under section 6, interception means listening to or recording the communication, as it passes over that system, without the knowledge of the person making it. This applies in every state, and it is why a recording made inside a phone system needs the caller to know about it.
3. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If the Act covers your firm, Australian Privacy Principle 5 requires reasonable steps to tell a person, at or before the time you collect their personal information, who you are, why you are collecting it and who you usually share it with. A recording or transcript of a client call is personal information.

Two cautions on that table. First, the all-party Acts have exceptions. In New South Wales, section 7(3)(b) lets a party record without everyone's consent where a principal party agrees and the recording is reasonably necessary to protect that party's lawful interests, or is not made to communicate or publish the conversation to people who were not part of it. Tasmania (s 5(3)) and the ACT (s 4(3)) have similar wording. Western Australia (s 5(3)(d)) and South Australia (s 4(2)(a)) have a lawful interests exception. These turn on the facts of each call. A firm that records every client call as routine, and puts the notes on a file other people read, should not plan around an exception. Second, the one-party states still restrict what you do with the recording. Victoria (s 11), Queensland (s 45) and the Northern Territory (s 15) limit communicating or publishing a recorded private conversation. In Queensland that extends to a statement prepared from the recording.

You also rarely know which state your client is in when they answer. Wording that asks everyone for consent works everywhere, so that is what every example below does. For the full state-by-state explanation see is it legal to record phone calls in Australia, or check a single call with our free Can I record this call? tool.

Did anything change in 2026?

New South Wales passed the Surveillance Devices Amendment (Public Interest Exceptions) Act 2026. It added exceptions (sections 14A to 14C of the Surveillance Devices Act 2007) to the offences of communicating or publishing a recording, mainly so a person can give a recording to a law enforcement agency in the public interest. We checked the current Act on the NSW legislation website on 6 October 2026: the consent rule in section 7 for recording your own conversations still requires all principal parties to agree, with the exceptions above. We have not checked every other state for 2026 amendments, so read your own state's current Act before you rely on this page.

What a good disclosure statement includes

• What is happening. Say "recorded" if audio is kept, and "transcribed" if only text is kept. Do not blur the two.
• Why. One plain reason, such as keeping an accurate note on the client's file.
• Who does it. Your firm, and that software is involved if it is.
• A real choice. A question the person can answer no to, and what happens if they do.
• Timing. Before anything of substance is said. Consent given halfway through does not cover the first half.
• A record of the answer. The yes or no, with the date and time, kept on the file.
• Where to find out more. A pointer to your privacy policy, in written versions.

1. Spoken consent script

Use this at the start of any call you make or answer yourself. It takes under ten seconds.

Wait for the answer before you press record. If your system records from the first second, ask again once the recording has started so the consent is captured on it: "Thanks. Just confirming for the record, you have agreed to this call being recorded?"

2. Phone system announcement wording

A recorded announcement suits inbound calls to a main number. Keep it to two or three sentences so callers hear all of it.

Three limits to know about. An announcement only plays on inbound calls, so outbound calls need the spoken script. It tells the caller, which goes to the knowledge test in the federal interception Act, but a caller staying on the line is implied consent at best. The NSW Act accepts consent given "expressly or impliedly" (s 7(3)(a)), yet an express yes is far easier to prove. And an announcement that says "may be recorded for quality and training purposes" does not cover using the recording to write file notes. Say the purpose you really have.

3. Email signature and booking confirmation wording

Written notice before the call does not replace asking on the call. It means the question is not a surprise, and it helps you meet the notice step in Australian Privacy Principle 5.

4. Engagement letter or client agreement clause

A signed clause gives you standing written agreement and a place to explain storage and retention. Use it together with a short spoken check on each call, because the person on the phone is not always the person who signed.

If AI software is involved, say so in the clause. For tax and BAS agents, the Tax Practitioners Board's guidance TPB(GS) 55/2026 (22 July 2026) says client permission is needed before client information is disclosed to a third party, which can include an AI tool, and that the permission can be given in a signed engagement letter. Our AI note taking policy template has the matching internal policy.

5. Wording for when you transcribe without recording

More firms now keep a transcript and no audio. Microsoft Teams can transcribe a meeting without recording it, and some phone systems produce a transcript as part of an AI add-on. This is a real privacy improvement, because there is no audio file to store or leak. It is not a way around consent.

The NSW Act defines "record" to include a record in digital form, and a documentary record prepared from one. The federal interception Act turns on whether the person knows. And a transcript of a client call is personal information under the Privacy Act whether or not audio exists. So we suggest treating transcription the same as recording: tell everyone, ask, and note the answer. The difference is that your wording should describe what really happens.

This is where our own product sits. CallNote never records a call, never joins a meeting as a bot and never stores call audio. It receives a transcript your phone or meeting system has already made and turns it into a file note in your format. The consent step belongs to the system that makes the transcript, and to you. See AI note takers that do not record and how to transcribe a Teams meeting without recording it.

How to note consent on the file

The disclosure only protects you if you can show it happened. Put it at the top of the file note. Here is a fictional example.

Notice the detail: each person answered, the clients were in South Australia, and transcription started after the yes. That is the record you want if the call is ever questioned.

A short call recording policy for a small firm

If you want this written down as a firm rule, these seven lines cover it.

1. We only record or transcribe a call or meeting when everyone on it has been told and has agreed.
2. The person running the call asks at the start, using the firm's script, and waits for a yes from each person.
3. If anyone says no, we do not record or transcribe. We take notes by hand and write on the file that consent was declined.
4. We record the consent, with the date and time, at the top of the file note.
5. Recordings and transcripts are stored only in [system], accessed only by [roles], and never saved to personal devices.
6. Recordings and transcripts are kept for [period] and then deleted. The reviewed file note stays on the client file.
7. [Name] is responsible for this policy and reviews it every [12 months].

Common mistakes

• Relying on the meeting banner. Most meeting platforms show a notice when recording or transcription starts. A banner informs people. It does not ask them, and phone participants may never see it.
• Asking after the call has started. The first few minutes are then unconsented.
• Borrowing call centre wording. "Quality and training purposes" is not your purpose.
• Forgetting the third person. A spouse, interpreter or support person who joins late needs to be asked too.
• Letting a bot do the asking. If an AI meeting assistant joins and announces itself, you still need to know that everyone agreed. See do AI note takers record your calls.

Common questions