Chris Edwards, chief mission officer at Vision Australia, who is blind, said the technology was "outstanding" for people who would otherwise rely on sighted people to read recipes, check washing machine settings or get street directions. "The ability for smart glasses to help give a new level of independence for someone who's blind and low vision, on things that they would normally rely on other sighted people to do, is outstanding," he said.
Matt Henderson, a town planner from Adelaide who has been deaf since birth, said his glasses provide live captions in meetings and have "definitely increased my confidence massively". He added: "I'm not reliant on as many people for things, so it's independence as well."
But the devices have been branded "pervert glasses" in the media after being used to secretly film people without consent. Recent reporting has also highlighted their vulnerability to hacking, prompting the Australian privacy commissioner to launch an investigation, while Kmart appears to have pulled them from shelves.
Today, Greens leader David Shoebridge plans to introduce a bill for a 12-month import ban on smart glasses, warning: "We need to act before the genie entirely escapes out of the bottle." The draft legislation includes a carve-out allowing importers to bring in the devices to sell as disability aids.
Several local councils have already imposed restrictions, including a Brisbane ban on non-consensual filming at public pools. Mr Edwards said it was unhelpful for smart glasses to be continually labelled in negative terms, given their value for the disability community.