Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

I'm speaking in support of the amendments that have been moved by the shadow minister, the member for Ballarat, on the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill 2018. This shouldn't be a controversial issue. The principle behind My Health Record is a sound one, and it is something that should benefit most Australians. If I'm involved in a serious car accident and I'm wheeled into a hospital unconscious, then I want those doctors and nurses who are treating me to be able to access as much information as possible about myself so that they can provide appropriate treatment and care. That is something that could be provided through a system such as My Health Record and having that data available electronically for easy access to ensure the most appropriate and best care for a patient. But, like many things that have been rolled out by this government in the IT space, it appears that they have bungled this rollout. You only have to look to the National Broadband Network, the NDIS, the census fail and the robo-debt debacle. It now appears they may have stuffed up the My Health Record rollout.

It is estimated that $1.2 billion has already been spent on this program and it appears that there are some serious issues. Australians do deserve better and to know that the system is working in their favour, rather than having millions of people looking at opting out of the system to ensure that they feel that they get the privacy that they deserve. The stakes are high when it comes to issues such as medical health records, and they can be the target of cybercriminals. In the United States, Verizon's Data breach investigations report states:

Healthcare is the only industry where the threat from inside is greater than that from outside. Human error is a major contributor to those stats.

But we should be able to produce a system that provides clinicians, medical practitioners and patients with access to the electronic information that is vitally important to ensure appropriate care, to ensure that the best interests of the patients are being catered for and, importantly, to ensure that the system works effectively, efficiently and, ultimately, gets value for money for taxpayers.

We should also be able to ensure that people's privacy is protected, that all Australians have confidence that the data relating to their health in the system will not be used or accessed by other organisations for purposes ulterior to those for which the information was intended. I'm speaking of insurance companies, law enforcement agencies and other agencies trying to access this data when most Australians want to ensure that their doctors and other health professionals can access that information—that's it—and that a person can't be discriminated against in an insurance policy or the outcome of an employment application because some other body has been able to access the health records of Australians through a system such as My Health Record. That's not what we want from a system such as this, and we should be able to deliver an outcome that provides access to medical staff but protects the Australian people from other access.

A Senate inquiry into this bill has been established that will no doubt look at these issues of privacy and access and for which purposes the information can be used by organisations external to the process. This bill seeks to deal with some of the issues and challenges raised in the rollout of My Health Record. Labor supports those elements but believes it should go further. Firstly the bill amends the act to require a court order or a consumer's express consent in order to disclose health information from their My Health Record to law enforcement agencies or other government bodies. The government argues that this is already the policy of the Australian Digital Health Agency and that no material has ever been released by law enforcement agencies, but this amendment will enshrine that into law, and that's something we and all Australians support. I argue that it should go further and apply to other external organisations like insurance companies seeking to access this information in respect of a particular member who may have a policy with them.

Secondly the bill amends the act to require the permanent deletion of health information for all consumers who opt out of My Health Record. The act currently requires the information held in the record to be locked down but retained until 30 years after the consumer's death. Labor believes this is another positive amendment and will support it. I've had a number of calls and emails to my office from constituents who are concerned about the notion that their records would be maintained after they've opted out of the system. Most people would expect that once you've opted out, that's it; you've opted out and those electronic records can no longer being accessed. If we're saying that's the intent of the scheme then that is what should apply. This amendment will hopefully do that.

Two further issues have been recognised and need to be looked at. Workers' representatives have raised concerns that doctors who perform pre-employment or workers' compensation assessments on behalf of employees could have access to employees' My Health Records and that information disclosed to employers could be used to discriminate against employees, for example, on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. This is the issue I spoke of earlier with insurance companies. Advocates are also concerned that inappropriate access to My Health Record could facilitate family violence. For example, ex-partners or non-custodial parents could conceivably use the record to track the location and treatment of vulnerable people. So these are two further issues that we believe need to be looked at, and it doesn't go far enough. Once again the government has bungled this. It shouldn't be an issue that is controversial. We should be able to provide privacy for Australian citizens and still have their health records online.

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