Legal and privacy groups worry that Australians’ ‘intimate and sensitive’ information could be used for enforcement.
As the federal government reviews privacy legislation, privacy and legal groups have sounded the alarm over a new bill that would make it easier for government agencies to share information with other government and non-government organisations, including businesses and researchers.
On Tuesday the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration held a hearing into the bill at which interim national data commissioner Deborah Anton argued the changes would open up existing data to improve government.
“The bill seeks to progress a necessary set of reforms to modernise [public service] data-sharing practices, to set higher and consistent standards, and to add additional transparency to ensure the public know what is being done with their data,” she said.
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