Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. The opposition, who, in one breath, are arguing for it to be put in place faster, are now arguing for delay. You're making people less safe. You're making their identity documents less safe. That is what you are doing by supporting delaying this report until 14 May. It means that we will not have this system in place by July 2024, which is what has been sought and what has been consulted on for nine years.

I inherited this from the opposition, who had failed to get it to legislation stage after eight years of working on it. This has not come out of the blue. This does not require a long committee process. There have been exposure drafts. There have been consultation processes. This is about making sure that people's information and the amount of information they have to share is reduced. It's about making sure there's a legislative framework. It's about making sure there's a regulator in place to ensure that the system works efficiently. It is about protecting individuals' own information.

I cannot believe that those opposite are going to side with people who are going to pretend this bill is a whole range of things that it absolutely isn't. When they say it's mandatory, it's not. When they say it's going to steal your identity or it's a big government conspiracy, it is not. This is about personal control of your own information. It is completely voluntary. It's an important economic reform that needs to happen, and it needs to be done quickly so that we can respond to Optus and Medibank, where people's documents have been taken and have been misused and their privacy and their control over those documents has been abused. Please support the government's position, which is for a committee inquiry to report by the end of February.