A growing number of Cairns residents — including First Nations community members, Pacific Islander families and local small business owners — say their photographs have been lifted, duplicated and used without permission across social media platforms and commercial websites, leaving them frustrated, distressed and largely without recourse. The complaints have been building quietly for months, but voices grew louder this week as affected residents began organising through community networks in Woree and Manunda.
The issue has taken on particular weight in far north Queensland, where the intersection of digital literacy gaps, limited legal aid access and culturally sensitive material — including images taken at ceremony, community events and reef-based tourism operations — makes unauthorised image duplication more than a privacy nuisance. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents, it cuts to matters of cultural sovereignty.
Faces Recognised, Permissions Never Asked
One community meeting held last month at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair precinct on Sheridan Street drew roughly 40 attendees, according to an organiser from the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji community who coordinated the gathering. Participants described finding their photographs embedded in AI-generated advertising content, fake social media profiles and, in several cases, promotional material for businesses they had no connection to. Attendees included residents from as far as Yarrabah, the Aboriginal community located about 50 kilometres south-east of the Cairns CBD on the Yarrabah Peninsula.
Several Pacific Islander families from the suburb of Parramatta Park — home to one of Queensland's most established Tongan and Samoan communities — raised concerns that images taken at church events and family gatherings had appeared on overseas websites. The Cairns Pasifika community has long organised around the Cairns Multicultural Council on Grafton Street, and staff there have reportedly begun fielding an increasing volume of inquiries about image rights, though the organisation has not yet made a formal public statement on the matter.
A small business operator on Spence Street, who runs a reef tour operation and asked not to be named, said promotional photographs taken of her staff during a 2024 marketing shoot had appeared on at least two competitor booking sites by early 2025. She contacted the platforms directly. One responded within a fortnight. The other did not respond at all within six months.
Limited Pathways, Real Consequences
Australia's Privacy Act 1988, which underwent significant reform following the government's response to the 2022 Privacy Act Review, still does not include a standalone tort for serious invasions of privacy — meaning civil remedies for image misuse remain limited outside of the Copyright Act or specific platform complaints processes. The Australian Communications and Media Authority received more than 16,000 online safety complaints in the 2023–24 financial year, according to figures published by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, with image-based abuse among the most frequently cited categories.
For communities in regional Queensland, lodging complaints with federal bodies often requires digital access and English literacy levels that not all residents have equally. Community Legal Aid based on McLeod Street in Cairns has run digital rights workshops as part of a broader community education program, but funding for that program is tied to a grant cycle that concludes in September 2026.
Legal Aid Queensland and ATSILS — the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, which operates a Cairns office on Lake Street — have both flagged digital rights as an emerging casework category, though neither has published specific figures on image-related complaints from the Cairns region.
For residents navigating this now, the most practical immediate step is filing a complaint directly through the eSafety Commissioner's online portal, which accepts reports in multiple formats and does not require a lawyer. The Office of the eSafety Commissioner also publishes a dedicated image-based abuse removal guide updated as of March 2025. Community members with cultural concerns about images connected to ceremony or traditional practice can also contact ATSILS on Lake Street, where staff can advise on both legal options and culturally appropriate processes. The community meeting series is expected to continue, with a follow-up session planned for late July at a venue in Westcourt still to be confirmed.
