Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Attorney-General for his concise answers. I refer to comments that were made quite recently by somebody the Attorney quoted a couple of times during his second reading contribution, Mr David Irvine, the former director-general of ASIO. He declared himself a 'data nationalist'—I think that was the phrase he used. He said that it was his concern that the material be hosted in Australia precisely so that we are not exposed to data-privacy regimes or otherwise of other countries. For example, if smaller service providers choose a Chinese cloud-hosting provider because they offer, as you observe, the lowest costs, that is something that concerns many people. It certainly concerns me, and it appears to also concern Mr Irvine.

I wonder whether you think that issue has any validity. In the course of the various reviews that are occurring into the way that this bill is going to operate, I wonder whether the government's mind is closed to a requirement, as Mr Irvine proposes in his comments, to adopt a position of data nationalism. It is not one that sits comfortably with me, but I am interested to know whether or not the government has a fixed view on this.