Page 1573 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
It suggested remedies in the form of damages, injunctions and apologies. I hope that we see developments in this area in the ACT soon, because I think this is a change to the law that is worth pursuing. It is something that the courts have been grappling with over several years, and it may actually be that a clear common law tort of breach of privacy needs to be developed at some time in the future. This is an issue, and an area of policy, that warrants further work, because we are living in an age in which the issue of privacy is increasingly being debated, one in which I think many individuals feel challenged.
In summary, I am happy to give in-principle support to this bill and I look forward to hearing further information from the government about the impact that federal changes could have on the proposed scheme.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (11.56), in reply: I thank members for their support in principle of this bill today. This bill is the first time that ACT-specific legislation has been developed to regulate the handling and management of personal information by public sector agencies and government contractors in the territory. The bill marks an evolution from the existing scheme of privacy protection in the ACT, established by application of the commonwealth Privacy Act 1988, as it stood in 1994, with some modifications.
Since 1994 privacy legislation at the commonwealth level has changed but the legislation that applies in the ACT has not. Most recently, the new Australian privacy principles took effect on 12 March 2014 but they do not apply to the ACT public service. It is, therefore, appropriate that the ACT moves at this time to implement separate privacy legislation to have its own law to promote the protection of personal information while still allowing government agencies to efficiently perform their functions.
The application of outdated commonwealth laws has resulted in confusion about the status of privacy laws in the ACT. It has also resulted in laws that do not necessarily reflect the ACT situation or indeed the changing global technological landscape which we all sit within.
In the last decade we have seen rapid growth in information-collection capabilities and the use of data aggregation, surveillance and communication technologies. In turn, this has led to a shift in community perceptions of privacy. Individuals are more willing to share personal information but are increasingly interested in how their information is handled and managed, particularly in the long term.
We see people of all ages actively sharing their personal information and opinions on social media such as Facebook and Twitter and, in the government context, in areas such as an e-health record. Despite this trend and the proliferation of mechanisms that allow instant and often permanent transmission, sharing and distribution of information, individuals continue to be concerned about how public sector agencies collect, use and store their personal information, as they should.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video