Chapter 1 - Introduction
Reference
1.1
On 9 December
2004, the Senate agreed to a motion moved by the Australian
Democrats and referred the following matters to the Legal and Constitutional
References Committee, for inquiry and report by 30 June 2005:
- the overall effectiveness and appropriateness of the Privacy Act 1988 as a means by which to protect the privacy of
Australians, with particular reference to:
- international
comparisons,
- the capacity of the
current legislative regime to respond to new and emerging technologies which
have implications for privacy, including:
- 'Smart
Card' technology and the potential for this to be used to establish a national
identification regime,
- biometric imaging data,
- genetic testing and the potential disclosure and discriminatory use of such
information, and
- microchips which can be implanted in human beings (for example, as recently
authorised by the United States Food and Drug Administration), and
- any legislative
changes that may help to provide more comprehensive protection or improve the
current regime in any way;
- the effectiveness of the Privacy
Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 in extending the privacy scheme to the
private sector, and any changes which may enhance its effectiveness; and
- the resourcing of the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner[1] and whether current levels of funding
and the powers available to the Federal Privacy Commissioner enable her to
properly fulfil her mandate.[2]
Conduct of the inquiry
1.2
The committee advertised the inquiry in The Australian newspaper on 15 December 2004, 2 February 2005, 16 February 2005, 2 March 2005 and 16 March 2005
and wrote to over 90 organisations and individuals, inviting submissions by 25 February 2005. Details
of the inquiry were placed on the committee's website.
1.3
The committee received nearly 50 submissions from various
individuals and organisations, as well as several supplementary submissions, and
these are listed at Appendix 1. Submissions were placed on the committee's
website.
1.4
The committee held public hearings in Melbourne
on 22 April 2005; in Sydney
on 19 May 2005; and in Canberra
on 20 May 2005. A list of
witnesses who appeared at the hearings is at Appendix 2, and copies of the
Hansard transcript are available through the Internet at https://www.aph.gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgements
1.5
The committee thanks those organisations and
individuals who made submissions and gave evidence at public hearings. The committee
particularly acknowledges the work of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC)
and the Australian Health Ethics Committee (AHEC) of the National Health and
Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in their comprehensive report on the
protection of human genetic information in Australia.[3] Further, the committee thanks the Office
of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) for its assistance during this inquiry. The OPC's
recent report on its review of the private sector provisions (OPC review) was
also of great assistance to the committee's inquiry.[4]
Scope of the report
1.6
Chapter 2 provides a background and overview of privacy
and the Privacy Act 1988
(Privacy Act). Chapter 3 considers the capacity of the Privacy Act to deal with
emerging technologies, and in particular, those technologies listed in the
terms of reference. Chapter 4 examines the effectiveness of the private sector
provisions of the Privacy Act, including the recent review of the private
sector provisions by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
1.7
Chapter 5 considers a range of other issues raised
during the committee's inquiry relating to the overall effectiveness and
appropriateness of the Privacy Act. Chapter 6 looks at the resourcing and
powers of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Issues relating to privacy
and international comparisons, as listed in term of reference (a)(i) are
considered through the report. Finally, chapter 7 presents a summary of the
Committee's conclusions and its recommendations on a range of matters relating
to the Privacy Act.
Note on references
1.8
References in this report are to individual submissions
as received by the committee, not to a bound volume. References to the Committee
Hansard are to the proof Hansard: page numbers may vary between the proof and the
official Hansard transcript.
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