Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am specifically interested in why the contract was signed in the absence of any specific legislation that would allow this contract to actually operate. I understand the timing, but it is a massive risk—it is a leap of faith to come in here and expect the Senate to pass legislation when what is happening is that we are entering into uncharted territory. We are handing over sensitive health information on Australian men and women. We are providing that information to a for-profit company, which is not something that we have ever done before—particularly within the cancer registry space. It is a big decision to do that.

Traditionally, these registers have been managed by government, and have been managed by specific for-purpose NGOs created specifically to manage this information. To hand it over to a for-profit, large telecommunications company is a big step. It was undertaken without any guarantee that the legislation would be approved by the Senate. So on what basis was the contract signed and why was it done before the passage of any legislation?