Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 819 standing in my name relating to Privacy Awareness Week, before asking that it be taken as a formal motion.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate:

(a) notes that:

  (i) 13 May 2018 is the start of Privacy Awareness Week with the theme 'from principles to practice',

  (ii) 2018 marks 30 years of the Privacy Act 1988,

  (iii) in 2013, the UN General Assembly affirmed that the rights held by people offline must also be protected online, and it called upon all states to respect and protect the right to privacy in digital communication,

  (iv) on 25 May 2018, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect, for all companies that hold data within or as a result of doing business with citizens of the European Union,

  (v) the GDPR represents current best practice regarding standards for the protection of data, as it is consent-based and gives individuals the rights of access, erasure, and transfer of their personal data, and

  (vi) under current Australian law, young Australians might never be able to exercise their right to privacy; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

  (i) consider the impact of Australia's insufficient and out-dated privacy laws on all Australians, including children and young people, and

  (ii) look to the GDPR as a potential model for privacy protections for Australians.

Question agreed to.