Can You Remove a News Article from Google in Australia?

It is the question I hear more than any other. A professional calls us, sometimes shaken, sometimes angry, and asks: "Can you get this article removed from Google?"

I wish I could give them the answer they want. But I built this firm on honesty, and the honest answer is: almost never.

That does not mean there is nothing you can do. There is plenty you can do. But it starts with understanding what actually works in Australia and what does not, so you stop wasting time and money chasing dead ends.

Google's "Results About You" tool

Google launched a feature called "Results About You" that lets individuals request removal of certain personal information from search results. When people hear about this tool, they understandably get excited. Finally, a way to clean up Google.

Here is the catch: it only covers a narrow set of personal data. Phone numbers, home addresses, email addresses, bank details, government ID numbers. If your mobile number or home address appears on some random directory site, this tool can help.

But it does not cover news articles. It does not cover professional complaints. It does not cover anything that Google considers to be "in the public interest." A negative news story about a professional absolutely falls into that category in Google's eyes. So for the vast majority of people who contact us, this tool is not the answer.

The right to be forgotten (does not exist here)

Many Australians have heard about the "right to be forgotten," the legal principle that allows individuals to request search engines remove outdated or irrelevant results about them. It sounds like exactly what you need.

The problem is that it is a European law. It comes from EU data protection regulation and applies only within the European Union. Australia has no equivalent. There have been discussions and proposals over the years, and the Australian Privacy Act has been under review, but as of today there is no right to be forgotten in Australian law.

I have spoken with people who have paid lawyers thousands of dollars to send "right to be forgotten" requests to Google on their behalf. Google's response is always the same: this does not apply in Australia. That money would have been far better spent elsewhere.

Contacting the publisher directly

Can you ask the outlet that published the article to take it down? You can ask. Whether they will is another matter entirely.

Major news outlets (the ABC, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, news.com.au) will almost never remove a published article. These organisations have editorial policies, legal teams, and a fundamental commitment to their archives. A polite request will be declined. A legal threat will be referred to their lawyers, and unless you have a genuinely strong defamation case, it will go nowhere.

Where direct contact sometimes works is with smaller publishers. Law firm blogs, industry commentary sites, minor trade publications. If an article is outdated, factually inaccurate, or the publisher simply does not feel strongly about it, a respectful and well-crafted request can occasionally succeed. I have seen it work, but it is the exception, not the rule.

Court orders

Yes, you can theoretically obtain a court order requiring Google to de-index a specific URL or requiring a publisher to remove content. In practice, this is extraordinarily difficult and expensive in Australia.

You would need to establish that the content is defamatory, that there is no valid public interest defence, and that the court should exercise its discretion to order removal. For published news articles, particularly those reporting on public records, regulatory decisions, or court proceedings, judges are deeply reluctant to order suppression. The cost of pursuing this can run into tens of thousands of dollars with no guarantee of success.

For most professionals, this is not a realistic path.

ACMA complaints

The Australian Communications and Media Authority regulates broadcasting and online content, and some people wonder whether an ACMA complaint could force removal of a news article. It cannot. ACMA's remit does not extend to editorial news content published by media organisations. Their complaints process covers things like offensive online content, spam, and broadcasting standards violations, not unflattering news coverage.

Government and regulatory decisions cannot be removed

This is worth stating plainly, because it is something many of our clients in the health sector need to hear. If you are a medical professional and the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) or the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has published a decision about you on their website, that content cannot be removed. These are government bodies fulfilling a public safety mandate. Their published decisions are part of the public record. No amount of legal pressure, complaints, or requests will change that.

AHPRA publishes conditions on registration, reprimands, suspensions, and tribunal outcomes on the national register at ahpra.gov.au. This register is fully indexed by Google. When someone searches a doctor's name, the AHPRA registration page often appears on page one, and any notations are visible. AHPRA media releases about significant actions are also indexed separately, and they frequently trigger additional coverage from news outlets and law firm blogs.

The HCCC in New South Wales publishes investigation outcomes, prosecution results, and prohibition orders on its website. These HCCC findings appear in Google search results and rank highly because hccc.nsw.gov.au is a government domain with strong authority. If you have been the subject of an HCCC investigation that resulted in a public finding, that page will appear when someone Googles your name, potentially for years.

The same applies to court decisions, tribunal findings, and other regulatory outcomes published on government websites. These are permanent fixtures of the public record.

So what actually works?

If removal is off the table for most people (and it is), the question becomes: what can you actually do?

The answer is suppression.

Suppression means building enough high-quality, positive, and relevant content about you that Google's algorithm starts pushing the negative article down in search results. Most people never scroll past page one. Research consistently shows that the vast majority of clicks go to the first few results. If a negative article sits at position 15 or 20 instead of position 3, the practical impact on your reputation is dramatically reduced.

This is not a quick fix. It requires a sustained strategy: publishing thoughtful content on authoritative platforms, building your professional profile across the right channels, and giving Google genuine reasons to rank positive content above the negative. It takes months, not days.

But it works. I have seen professionals go from having a damaging article as their top search result to having it buried on page two or three, replaced by content that actually reflects who they are and what they do.

Focus on what you can control

The hardest part of this process, for many people, is accepting that you cannot make the article disappear. That is a genuinely difficult thing to sit with, especially when the coverage feels unfair or outdated.

But the professionals who get the best outcomes are the ones who stop pouring energy into what they cannot control (the old article) and start investing in what they can (new content that tells their story properly).

You do not need to be at the mercy of one article written on one bad day. You can build a body of work that gives Google, and anyone searching for you, a fuller and fairer picture.

If you are dealing with negative search results and want to understand your options, I am happy to have a straightforward, no-obligation conversation about what is realistic for your situation.

Contact clare@narrativedigital.com.au for a confidential conversation.