Additional comments by Senator Stott Despoja

The Democrats understand and support the intent of the legislation but reserve our right to amend the bill.

We agree with the evidence as presented in the Chair's report.

The Democrats have longstanding concerns regarding the protection of sensitive health information, specifically DNA information.

We are particularly concerned that DNA information on a State or Territory database that is erased, may not be similarly erased from the NCIDD records – as indicated in the Chair's Report (Recommendation 1, page 9, 2.49, lines 4-5). This is a potential privacy issue. It is unclear in the way the Report's recommendation is currently drafted if residual DNA information from a State or Territory database will lie on the NCIDD indefinitely, and if so, why this should be the case.

Senator Natasha Stott Despoja

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