Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

The government opposes Democrat amendments (10) and (13). In relation to amendment (10), current paragraph 80Q(1)(b) in the bill is a standard offence provision relating to secondary disclosure and is preferred to the proposed amendment. This amendment by the Democrats will extend the ambit of the clause to secondary use of the information by all recipients. It would go beyond the ambit of the bill and, indeed, the Privacy Act if the recipient were not otherwise subject to the act. That is, it would extend the coverage of the Privacy Act to persons not otherwise covered within the act at this time. This is an offence provision; therefore, in the government’s view, that is quite a serious step.

In relation to amendment (13), the bill does not affect existing archives and records management regimes that exist at the Commonwealth and state levels. We believe that it would be inappropriate to undermine the existing record-keeping systems, including the Archives Act, for these particular purposes. Therefore, we believe that the period sought by the Democrats is inappropriate and that the other regimes in place should be kept.