Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will be supporting the Health Legislation Amendment (Modernising My Health Record—Sharing by Default) Bill 2024 in the House of Representatives and reserving our position in the Senate. We are in support of effective care pathways to promote greater cooperation and coordination between health services and systems. Furthermore, the Greens believe that health information and data linked to identifiable individuals should be stored with the best up-to-date security systems and protocols.

There have been considerations raised by advocacy groups about the potential effects of this bill on healthcare providers. There is a likelihood that not all practices that will be subject to this legislation currently have the technical capability for the relevant information sharing. Upgrading software systems can be a costly endeavour and could be a process that would delay compliance. The Greens want to hear from the impacted practitioners about the impact that this bill would have on them. Because of this, we would like to see an inquiry into this bill which will then inform opposition in the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:09

See this speech in context