Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Welcome. My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Senator Wong. Last week it was revealed in the Saturday Paper that the Department of Veterans' Affairs has routinely transferred the very private and personal medical data of Australian veterans to the University of South Australia. This data was transferred without the knowledge of or consent from any of the veterans whose information was released. None of this data has been de-identified. This realisation has come as a huge shock to the veteran community, as you can imagine. While they are unsurprised that the department has breached their trust in this way, they are very concerned at the lack of transparency regarding the transfer of this data. What exactly is being held by the University of South Australia, and what is it being used for?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to Senator Lambie for her question. I think she made a contribution either earlier this week or last week about this issue, and I acknowledge her continued advocacy on behalf of our veteran community. She does, I think, a great job on that front, and I know how much it is appreciated.

I will have to take some of the detail of the question on notice, because the information I have is insufficient to respond fully to your question, Senator Lambie. What I would say is that I understand that the Veterans' MATES program, which is what this refers to, has in fact been in place for some time—I think since the Howard government. I do have information that there has been an acknowledged privacy breach of an individual and that the department has recognised the distress this has caused. I think an apology has been issued or there has been communication from the department. I'm also advised that the department commissioned an external review of its privacy settings and procedures in late 2022 as a result of these matters and has implemented its recommendations. What I don't have is a direct response to the broader issue about the totality of the data and the extent to which anything untoward has occurred in relation to that data. So I will ask the Minister for Veterans' Affairs to ask his department to provide me with an answer on that issue.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, first supplementary?

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The MATES page on the Department of Veterans' Affairs website claims:

The program provides information and resources to:

There is no mention of the University of South Australia. Could you please inform the veterans of why that web site hasn't been updated to show that their information has been going to the University of South Australia?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not familiar with the website. The information I have is that the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the university have strict policies in place to ensure the appropriate protection of personal information and that ethics approval remains in place, guiding the delivery of the program to the benefit of the veteran community. Identified data is only used to write to veterans who are at risk of medicine related problems and to the veteran's doctor, to encourage a positive conversation tailored to the veteran's specific healthcare needs. I am also advised that the program uses health billing data, not health professional notes, to identify those at risk. The information I have—which I don't think is consistent with the proposition you just put to me, so I will need to understand that—is that all other data used in the program is de-identified.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, second supplementary?

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My office is receiving calls and emails from veterans with attachments from the University of South Australia itself to advise it is demanding payment from veterans who are seeking information on how their records have been used and who else they have been sent to. Does the government have any idea why Australian veterans are being asked to pay for access to medical data held by the university when it is the veterans' own data that was never approved to go out in the first place?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator, as you would probably gather, I don't have any information in relation to charging for the data in the brief from the department, so I will have to take that part of your question on notice.