Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Aviation Legislation Amendment (2008 Measures No. 2) Bill 2008 makes amendments to aviation security and safety legislation. The safety measures include amendments to the Civil Aviation Act 1998 to allow copying and disclosure of cockpit voice recordings, or CVRs, for the purpose of testing whether the CVR is functioning and reliable. CVRs retain the last two hours of audio in the cockpit during a flight. Information is recorded for use in accident investigations and needs to be fully functioning and reliable for this critical safety purpose.

Non-government amendments were successfully moved in the Senate with respect to the cockpit voice recorder provisions. While the bill already contains stringent measures to protect the privacy of an aircraft’s crew, the government supported an amendment to the bill to provide for a review of the CVR provisions by the Privacy Commissioner after they have been in operation for 12 months. The government supported the amendment because it is consistent with the nature of the existing protections to have an independent body review their implementation. This amendment was moved after discussions between Senator Xenophon and me. I thank him for the constructive way in which he entered into dialogue with the government.

The amended bill is in the interests of preserving best practice with respect to the maintenance of privacy. The other safety measures in the bill are amendments to the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 to improve the workability of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s accident and incident reporting scheme. It is essential that safety data is reported on accidents and incidents for the improvement of future transport safety. These security measures are amendments to the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 to expand the information collection and delegation of powers of the secretary of my department. These amendments will improve the robustness and flexibility of the aviation security framework to ensure a timely response to threats of unlawful interference with aircraft. I am confident that the amendments contained in this bill will further enhance Australia’s aviation security and safety regime. There is no greater priority when it comes to aviation than the issue of safety. Consistent with that, I commend the bill, as amended, to the House.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition is happy to support this amendment. It deals with the issue of the privacy of conversations amongst aircraft crew and the need to ensure that that privacy is appropriately respected. As I said in my remarks during the debate on this bill, I am sure that no-one ever expected there would be restrictions on the maintenance of cockpit voice recorders because of privacy provisions. There was never that intention, and I thought it was stretching the privacy rules to the absolute limit when maintenance staff gave the reason, as an excuse for not maintaining the cockpit voice recorder, that it might infringe the privacy of the conversations that were recorded on it. Frankly, safety is a priority issue and sometimes we have to accept some compromises in other areas to ensure that that safety is maintained.

Clearly, everybody believes that there is not much point in having cockpit voice recorders unless regular maintenance can be undertaken without any kind of interference or obstruction. So the opposition was happy to support the original bill. After the bill had gone through the House of Representatives, pilots raised concerns that there may not be adequate protection for those casual conversations which are inadvertently picked up on cockpit voice recorders during a flight. They proposed that pilots, to ensure that these conversations were kept private, should have a right of veto over whether or not the cockpit voice recorder could be maintained. I think that went too far. You cannot really have a situation where a pilot, co-pilot or any of the crew could have a right to essentially prevent maintenance from occurring because of what they may have said on the cockpit voice recorder on its last flight. There are, as the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government has rightly said, already quite significant rules guaranteeing the privacy of any such information. That is as it ought to be.

There have been some issues about whether it might be possible to recover ancient, wiped out conversations through modern technology that are actually no longer on the primary record of the cockpit voice recorder. I do not really know that I have a satisfactory technical answer as to whether that is actually possible but, for that reason, I think the suggestion that the Privacy Commissioner have a look at this issue after 12 months of operation is reasonable.

I also felt that the original amendment proposed by Independent senators—that a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule be applied—would essentially make the original legislation, as it was intended, unworkable. If each member of the crew could have three goes at knocking off maintenance then clearly, over the course of a year, there might never be any maintenance undertaken. So I do not think that was a practical amendment. If there are issues associated with privacy, then the Privacy Commissioner can have a look at them as a result of this amendment. Frankly, I doubt that there will be issues but, if there are, it is right that the Privacy Commissioner should have a look at them and see what needs to be done to correct any unintended consequences of this legislation.

I make the point, again, that the primary objective of this legislation is to ensure that cockpit voice recorders are maintained. There should not be any technical barriers put in the way of that and that will have to be the priority outcome, even taking into account the concerns of pilots in relation to their casual conversations. To just make one final point, the pilots are, I am told, to be notified in advance when the maintenance schedule is going to occur. It is probably good advice to them to remember that what they are saying in that conversation will be recorded. But even if they say something they should not say, or if they regret something they said, the privacy laws still give them protection.

Robert Oakeshott (Lyne, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will speak very briefly on the Aviation Legislation Amendment (2008 Measures No. 2) Bill 2008 because I spoke on this in the Main Committee and expressed some concerns there, and I am sure the minister has read and digested those at length. I just want to get on the record that this is a good example of the processes of this place that work. Legislation was presented in this place and the other place; there were negotiations and compromise has been reached. I think the legislation is better because of that.

I also want to emphasise the increased role that I am seeing for the Privacy Commissioner and the role that the Privacy Commissioner is being seen to take in a number of pieces of legislation—including, in fact, one that looks to have kept people up most of the night. I think it is a good thing that this place is focusing more on the liberties of the individual and the importance of those liberties as we develop and enhance the legislation that goes through these chambers.

As part of that, the point I want to re-emphasise from my speech in the Main Committee is that, although the intelligence gathering by various agencies is important, unrestrained and uncontrolled intelligence gathering should be of concern. I think greater transparency and greater accountability in that intelligence-gathering process strengthen the security of this nation and the security within aviation. Therefore, I am pleased to see at least a step forward in this amendment where the Privacy Commissioner is playing a great role.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the members for their contributions to the debate. Certainly the pilots association had raised issues of privacy, as indicated by the member for Lyne, which led to the amendment moved by Senator Xenophon. Senator Xenophon consulted with my office on making sure that the concerns were alleviated; hence there was certainly consultation with my department on the wording of the amendment that has been moved to make sure that there were not any unintended consequences from the amendment.

Let me say this about the comments of the shadow minister in this case: when it comes to a decision-making alternative of privacy over safety, I concur with the views of the shadow minister. I will put that on the record so that people clearly know where I am coming from. Anyone who has been aviation minister, as the shadow minister and other members of this chamber have been, knows that it is an extraordinary responsibility that falls upon one’s shoulders. It is certainly one that I am very conscious of. When there is an aviation incident, I am normally notified within a very short period of time. When I get a phone call from my aviation adviser it is sometimes a chilling prospect if it is at an hour when he would not normally be calling me.

We do need to look after people’s privacy, and I think these provisions ensure that any concerns that existed can be dealt with, which is why the government was prepared to support them. But we really do need to make sure in all circumstances that safety is not compromised, which is what the overall legislation is directed towards. I am pleased that this legislation will be supported by every member of the House because I think that it is very important for the confidence of the travelling public that aviation safety is not a political issue but an issue that the whole parliament works towards. I am very pleased that with this legislation we have had constructive input from government members, opposition members and Independent members in both chambers. I commend the Aviation Legislation Amendment (2008 Measures No. 2) Bill 2008, as amended, to the House, and I thank the member for Lyne and the shadow minister for their cooperation and for their contributions to this debate.

Question agreed to.