Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Normally it would be uncharacteristic of me to comment on a previous senator's contribution, other than to indicate that perhaps it was a little muddled and a little circuitous in its argument. But, nonetheless, it gives me an opportunity to correct some of the misconceived ideas in the contributions that have been made by those opposite on this important bill, the Privacy Amendment (Privacy Alerts) Bill 2014.

Labor is a proud champion of the rights of Australians, including the right to privacy—unlike, it appears, those opposite, but that surprised me nonetheless. Unlike the Liberal and National Party government, who have shown a blatant disregard for the rights of Australians, whether against racial discrimination or against breaches of privacy, in this instance Labor is taking action. It is deplorable that it takes an opposition to do what is, in effect, basic work of a government.

This bill provides another simple, basic plank in the protection of the right of Australian citizens to have their data held safely and, when breaches occur, to be notified. It is a very simple concept. The Australian government is the custodian of some of the most sensitive data and information of individuals. It is imperative that government departments and agencies act above and beyond best practice in the handling, management and storage of and access to the data of individuals.

It was the Liberal and National government who dispassionately oversaw the release of thousands of personal details of people in the government's care. It took a news outlet, The Guardian, to alert the department and cause it to act responsibly. That is in the face of what already exists on the record, which is the April 2012 document Data breach notification—a guide to handling personal information security breaches, a guideline produced by an Australian government agency, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. One would have thought the government would at least have managed to follow those guidelines, but no. If that is the standard that this government has for the privacy of people in its direct care and responsibility then it is apparent what its disregard for privacy as a whole would be.

Only Labor cares about the rights of individuals to have their privacy protected. It is, frankly, damning in the extreme that the government has not picked up the work of the former government and continued this important reform. It speaks volumes of the priorities and the choices being made by the Abbott government. Whether it is letting jobs and industries fall off the cliff, or tearing away the basic protections against racial discrimination, or instituting knights and dames—which I think is becoming comical—it is now clear that this government stands for little and is doing little. The Abbott government is not standing up for Australians and is not working in the best interests of their privacy or their rights.

I notice that the Attorney-General is in the chamber, so let us consider his track record. Let us look at what he has done during the six months he has been in office. Has he introduced measures to protect privacy? No. Has he looked at a reform agenda? If you put the Racial Discrimination Act in that bin, I think the answer is no. The only piece of legislation the Attorney-General has introduced into the parliament is to correct typos in a bill dating back to 1901! How apt it is that this anachronistic Attorney-General's first priority in this chamber has been correcting commas and removing hyphens from words such as 'email' rather than protecting the important rights of Australian citizens. This is an Attorney-General who has become absolutely catatonic when it comes to being the first law officer of the land. He has ground his department to a screaming halt—no reforms, no protections, no actions. After his 'commas and hyphens bill' his first priority—and I quote his own cabinet colleagues—has been 'to drink the right wing Kool-Aid'. That comment does not come from this side; it comes from his own side. His own cabinet and backbench have had to pull him away from the ideological cliff. Be that as it may, I think the truth is that the Attorney-General has his eyes on the bigger prize—and Senator Abetz, the leader in this place, does seem to be looking over his shoulder. I think—