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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 5001 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

For a long time, Mr Speaker - certainly from the time I came into this Assembly in 1989, and I am sure for a long time before that - there have been concerns expressed by individual members of our community that they wanted access to their own private records and they have not been able to get it. Equally, there has been concern on the part of medical practitioners to protect what they considered as their own private information. It seems to me that the principles that are set out here are particularly important.

As I read it, the legislation applies as of the date it is passed and gazetted and goes forward, so it does not undermine, in most cases anyway, what medical practitioners believe they have written in good faith, something that would do more harm than good. The 12 principles set out in the Bill are principles that I think anybody looking at this legislation would agree with, and I heard Mr Berry, on behalf of the Labor Party, agree that it is entirely appropriate. At the same time, it is important that there is a series of other protections in the Bill. I believe they are there, and it is with enthusiasm that I support this legislation.

It seems to me, Mr Speaker, that the consultation process the Government has been through to get this Bill to this stage has been effective. Whilst there are still some people and some medical practitioners who will be dismayed, at the least, when this legislation passes through this Assembly, I believe it is important for us to recognise that consultation does not mean that everybody gets their own way. Consultation means that the decision-makers, and that includes each and every person here, understand the full range of concerns that people have. We do understand those concerns. We understand what it is that doctors are concerned about. The decision is made on balance and their concerns are outweighed by the concerns of people who are seeking access to their health records.

This legislation has that balance in about the right place. I say "about" because it also seems to me that what we are doing in this Assembly, once again, is leading Australia in terms of this sort of innovative legislation. This is legislation of the social laboratory type. It is new. It is innovative. I think that makes it more exciting. We can actually contribute to a healthier society. We can contribute to a time when people feel more empowered. I think this is a really important piece of legislation. I am delighted to be able to stand in this Assembly to support such an innovative piece of legislation.

MS TUCKER (8.11): The Greens will be supporting this Bill which is about giving consumers access to their own health information. The issue of consumer access to health records is a very important one for all health care consumers. While there have been many recommendations in published reports and consumer proposals which have been made, getting to where we are now has been a long process, and I would like to commend the Government for pursuing this legislation. The background to this legislation is quite interesting, so I will speak briefly on how we have got to this point. There had been proposals for years that the Commonwealth legislate to give consumers access to their health records. A significant number of reviews recommended this, including the Allars report on Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and human pituitary hormone use in Australia, the Tito report on professional indemnity arrangements, and the Australian Law Reform Commission's report on freedom of information.

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