Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise to speak on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Information Disclosure, National Interest and Other Measures) Bill 2022. I recognise the importance of this legislation and that in some circumstances access to a missing person's mobile phone location data, known as 'triangulation', can mean the difference between life and death. In fact, it was the coalition that rolled out advanced mobile location, or AML, technology. This technology is embedded in the operating systems of Apple and Android phones to provide greater location accuracy to 000 services, for example, during an emergency call from a mobile telephone. This bill further advances the ability of law enforcement and emergency services agencies to access mobile phone location data. That can be critical when somebody goes missing.

This change is subtle but important. The Telecommunications Act includes general prohibitions on carriers and carriage service providers disclosing certain information or documents, including telecommunications data. There are some important exceptions, including where disclosure of this information is 'reasonably necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to life or health of a person'. The removal of the word 'imminent' supports recommendations from a number of state coroners and the Australian Law Reform Commission. The reason its removal was supported is that it set too high a bar for access to location data. So this bill removes the word imminent but also includes an important safeguard—that the entity or person being asked to disclose the information needs to be satisfied if it's unreasonable or impractical to obtain the other person's consent to the proposed disclosure or use.

What else does this bill achieve? The bill also authorises the use and disclosure of unlisted numbers—for example, some mobile phone numbers—and associated addresses for the purpose of dealing with matters raised by a call to an emergency service number. An example of how this will apply is where a caller can't provide the location of an emergency. The bill clarifies that carriers, carriage service providers and carriage service intermediaries will not be liable for damages where such entities are, acting in good faith, providing reasonable and necessary assistance to emergency services organisations. It makes some technical amendments, including clarifying the definition of a telecommunications transmission tower.

In principle, these measures are supported but we believe more work needs to be done. The opposition is concerned that the government has failed to adequately consult on the bill and address legitimate privacy concerns about a proposed change in the law that would make it easier to access somebody's mobile phone location data. Data security, particularly at the moment, is top of mind for many Australians. This year alone we've had a number of major data thefts, including from Optus, which has 9.8 million customers, and Medibank, which has 3.9 million customers. These are the biggest ones, but dozens of companies and institutions have fallen victim to hacking and data theft.

Scams are also flourishing. During Scams Awareness Week, earlier this month, the ACCC's Scamwatch revealed that losses from scams totalled more than $2 billion last year. This year it could reach $4 billion. Scamwatch received more than 166 reports, between January and September this year, showing a 90 per cent increase in losses to $424.8 million over the same period last year. The ACCC's deputy chair, Delia Rickard, said during the week:

Scammers evolve quickly, and their tactics are becoming increasingly sophisticated and unscrupulous. There have been hundreds of reports to Scamwatch in the weeks after the recent high profile data breaches and that is expected to continue … Cyber criminals have capitalised on the data breach by impersonating government departments and businesses to carry out identity theft and remote access scams.

Australians are being targeted relentlessly by these scammers. We believe the Albanese government must urgently pass new laws to combat scams on online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, including services such as WhatsApp and Messenger.

The former coalition government in December 2020 announced a new industry code, the Reducing Scam Calls Code, which requires telecommunications companies to detect, trace and block scam calls. In November 2021 the coalition made an important regulatory amendment, empowering the telecommunications sector, to identify and block SMS scams at the source. As a result of this work, new rules to identify, trace and block SMS scams came into force in July 2022. These laws have blocked an estimated 800 million scam calls and 48 million SMS scams. The Australian Media and Communications Authority, which administers the scam blocking, needs the power to force the global tech giants to detect, trace and block scams, ensuring companies like Meta, Twitter and Google are more accountable for the harm they are facilitating.

No sector is immune from this type of behaviour and situations. In October, farmers and small businesses in rural and regional areas were urged to be cautious, particularly when buying heavy machinery, following a spike in scams targeting the agricultural sector this year. And there's concern about this in my own electorate of Nicholls. Reports to the ACCC's Scamwatch show that Australian farm businesses lost more than $1.2 million to scammers between 1 January and 31 August 2022, an increase of more than 20 per cent compared to the same period last year. They can ill afford that at any time but particularly not at the moment, with all the other challenges that regional and rural Australia are facing.

Australians are increasingly sensitive about how their data is managed given the high-profile data thefts that have elevated the risk to millions of Australians of being targeted by scams. It is understandable that the management and security of data has become a top-of-mind issue. The accessing of Australians' data must be appropriately balanced with the need to ensure that their data is properly protected. Accordingly, the opposition is proposing that the bill be referred to a Senate committee for inquiry. It's important that anyone wishing to provide feedback or raise concerns about the bill, including civil liberties groups, has a proper opportunity to do so. So we must be as equally concerned about the misuse of data as we are about allowing access, even if that access is designed to protect people and save lives.

The coalition has got a strong track record in telecommunications: we funded more than 1,200 mobile base stations, delivering record investment to support regional connectivity, and improved telecommunications infrastructure for disaster resilience, including in the electorate of Nicholls. The coalition established the world's first eSafety Commissioner, through the Online Safety Act, which extends important online safety protections to adults. We also moved to hold global digital platforms to account, including under the news media bargaining code.

In the October budget, Labor cut telecommunications funding and groundbreaking investments in regional connectivity, including in disaster resilience, which once again demonstrates Labor's disregard for rural and regional Australia. Those cuts include a $106 million program to boost resilience and telecommunications infrastructure for natural disasters in vulnerable locations, and a much smaller commitment of $30.4 million has been made for the Department of Home Affairs for resilience initiatives, including infrastructure. It's a heartless decision at a time when so many regional communities are in the grip of a flood disaster.

The $30 million under the coalition that was for various internet affordability measures in regional and rural Australia is now just $4.7 million, and the $5 million for emerging technology trials has been scrapped. The $418 million for open access or multicarrier mobile is now $400 million. The Mobile Black Spot Program has been cut by $37.5 million, the lowest level of investment since 2015. While adopting the coalition's plan to extend the Peri-Urban Mobile Program, or PUMP, to regional cities—as the opposition called for—Labor is providing only half of the $78.5 million amount committed by the coalition.

Rural and regional communities deserve better. We are a vast nation, but that's not an excuse for having a two-tier telecommunication system. I urge the government to ramp up investment in regional telecommunications because the regions are critical to our economy, our exports and our jobs. Blackspots, poor service quality and a lack of access to the latest telecommunications technology are the subject of frequent representations to my office and many offices in regional and remote Australia. Telecommunications in the regions is critical for business and for participation in the digital economy, and it requires constant investment, not cuts.

In summary, I support the changes made by this bill, with some reservation regarding the protection of data and the level of consultation to date, and I reaffirm my urging of the government to keep investing in regional and rural telecommunications infrastructure. It's necessary for continuing the modernisation of our agricultural businesses, in moving people who want to work remotely from cities to the regions and for getting the population balance going in our country that we all want to see. I know the member for Bendigo agrees with that desire to see the regional cities in Victoria thrive. Thank you very much.

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