Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Introduction

I am pleased to present a bill which will make the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) digitally ready in a legal sense, in line with the government's broad digital transformation agenda.

DVA is undertaking veteran-centric reform to significantly improve services for veterans and their families by re-engineering DVA business processes.

In anticipation of planned business and ICT reforms that will reduce claims processing times and automate and streamline existing processes, amendment is required to provide a sound legislative basis for computerised decision-making.

This bill also proposes some amendments to information-sharing provisions, as well as making two minor technical amendments to the Veterans' Entitlements Act that were intended to be made as part of the Statute Update Act 2016, but which were overlooked.

Computerised decision-making (s chedule 1)

In the context of veteran-centric reform, these provisions would enable the secretary of DVA to arrange for computer programs to:

The last point is very important with respect to automating parts of DVA's business and improving outcomes for clients. For example, where a particular provision requires notice of a decision to be given, this new computerised decision-making provision will enable the computer program to both make the decision and send the notice.

The proposed computerised decision-making provisions are modelled on section 87 of the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Act 2011.

Information sharing (schedule 2)

Schedule 2 contains two types of information-sharing provisions:

1. public interest disclosures, and

2. information sharing under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Legislation Amendment (Defence Force) Act 1988, subject to it being enacted.

Public interest disclosure

In relation to the proposed public interest disclosure provision, this would enable the secretary of DVA to disclose information about a particular case or class of cases where the secretary certifies that it is necessary in the public interest to do so.

The Privacy Act 1988 legitimately limits the circumstances surrounding the handling and disclosure of a person's personal information, as set out in the Australian Privacy Principles. The purpose of the public interest disclosure provision is to put beyond doubt that the secretary may, in certain limited circumstances, release information about a case or class of cases.

The public interest disclosure provisions are modelled on paragraph 208(1)(a) of the Social Security Administration Act 1999, which have been operating for the last 16 years. These are powers that have been available to the minister for human services since 1999 and have proven to work well.

In deciding whether to make a public interest disclosure, the secretary of DVA must follow rules set by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and there are limits about disclosing personal information, which could result in the secretary committing an offence. These ministerial rules will be modelled on the rules currently in place for the Department of Human Services. I have begun consulting with the shadow minister on how they can best apply to the Department of Veterans' Affairs and I thank her for her cooperation in that regard.

Examples of the circumstances in which it might be appropriate for the secretary of DVA to disclose information about a case or class of cases include where there is a threat to life, health or welfare, for the enforcement of laws, in relation to proceeds of crime orders, mistakes of fact, research and statistical analysis, APS code of conduct investigations, misinformation in the community and provider inappropriate practices.

Because this is the first time this department has been given these powers, five safeguards have been incorporated to ensure that they are exercised appropriately. They are that:

Information sharing between the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Defence

The information-sharing provisions under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Legislation Amendment (Defence Force) Act 1988, subject to it being enacted, are necessary to overcome an anomaly that currently exists between the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988.

The anomaly is that the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission is unable to provide the same sort of information to the Secretary of the Department of Defence or the Chief of the Defence Force under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 about current serving members as it is able to under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.

It is important that the Secretary of the Department of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force are able to receive the same sort of information about all serving members, particularly in the context of monitoring occupational health and safety or for monitoring the cost to the Commonwealth of a service injury or a service disease.

The amendments would achieve this by aligning information-sharing provisions under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Legislation Amendment (Defence Force) Act 1988 with those in the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.

Technical amendments ( s chedule 3)

The purpose of the Statute Update Act 2016 is to update provisions in acts to take account of changes to drafting precedents and practices. In particular, that act updates references to penalties expressed as a number of dollars with penalties expressed as a number of penalty units. Such changes enhance readability, facilitate interpretation and promote consistency across the Commonwealth statute book.

The two technical amendments replace references to specific dollar amounts in penalties under the Veterans' Entitlements Act with references to penalty units, which is the current Commonwealth drafting practice. There are no substantive changes to the law—this is a technical amendment only.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am very pleased to be introducing this bill, which provides an important plank for the foundation of veteran-centric reform in the Department of Veterans' Affairs. I commend this bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.