Just to further muddy the waters here.
https://photorights.4020.net/ discusses photographers’ rights in NSW, and is written by a photographer who is also a qualified solicitor. It’s regularly updated and I find it trustworthy.
So my interpretation (which may be wrong) is:
– There is no “right to privacy” in Australia. “A person, in our society, does not have a right not to be photographed”. So, photos of people or private property are legal unless another law prevents it. (Look at Google Street View.)
– One such law is, if you are ON private property, under common law the property owner can deny you permission to take photos. This does not apply here as the webcam is apparently situated in the lot owner’s property.
– Other laws cover “voyeurism”. However according to the site they are limited to sexualized photos (“upskirting”, “private parts” etc) so are unlikely to apply.
– The “Surveillance Devices Act 1999” mentioned below is Victorian legislation so also will not apply. I also suspect “private activity” in that act is probably quite narrowly defined. The corresponding “SURVEILLANCE DEVICES ACT 2007 – SECT 8” of NSW is more restrictive and would not apply. https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/sda2007210/s8.html
– Photos of children are not a special case
– The NSW Workplace Surveillance Act (2005) mentioned, may apply.
I also expect the property rights of the lot itself could be overridden by a special by-law (as occurs already for noise etc) if the owners corp was to make one. On the other hand, another discussion here recommended a by-law saying the OC could install surveillance itself…
Cheers