Are VPNs legal in Australia?
On this page
Yes. Using a VPN is legal everywhere in Australia, and no Australian law bans one. What counts is what you do while connected: copyright law applies with or without a VPN.
Blocked piracy sites
A VPN can reach a blocked piracy site, and doing so is not an offence in itself. Downloading or sharing films, shows or music without permission is still copyright infringement, VPN or not.
The blocks come from the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015. It lets copyright owners ask the Federal Court to order internet providers to block overseas sites whose main purpose is piracy. That is why The Pirate Bay does not load on most Australian connections.
Our guide to whether torrenting is illegal in Australia covers the court cases.
Overseas streaming and geoblocking
Getting around a geoblock with a VPN is not illegal. No Australian law or court ruling makes it a copyright breach, and the government said so in 2015.
Geoblocking limits content to one country by checking where your IP address is. For years it also let software, music and streaming companies charge Australians more than buyers overseas, the so-called “Australia tax”.
The Copyright Act does not spell out that getting around a geoblock is allowed. The Productivity Commission’s 2016 Intellectual Property Arrangements report recommended that it should, to protect Australians shopping overseas for better prices.
Does watching overseas content breach copyright law?
No, as long as the content itself is legitimate. Watching a show on a service you pay for, or buying a film from an overseas store, does not infringe anyone’s copyright.
It can breach the service’s terms of use. Netflix’s terms limit viewing mainly to the country where you set up your account. That is a contract matter between you and Netflix, not a crime, and in practice the service just blocks the stream.
Comparing VPNs
Our best VPN for Australia table compares prices, refund periods, network size and device limits, read from each provider’s own website. Reviews of VPNs we have tested show the test date.
- First round: 10 VPNs, August 2021 to March 2022.
- Current round (from October 2026): so far Surfshark, NordVPN, Proton VPN, PrivadoVPN, PureVPN, Intego VPN, AdGuard VPN and Mysterium VPN.
- Not yet tested: 4 of the VPNs we review, and their reviews say so.