Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing and Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

Labor has been very supportive of e-health and the concept of the My Health Record. But, my goodness me, here is another stuff-up from the government. There really is nothing they can't stuff up. Quite frankly, we remain deeply concerned about the government's bungled rollout of the My Health Record. In the opt-out period, of course, people went online to try to opt out and the system crashed. Of course it did. That is yet another failing of this government, like all of its other failings. It could not organise anything properly. Implemented by a competent government, the e-health record could deliver tangible health outcomes to improve people's wellbeing and save the health system and the taxpayers of Australia millions of dollars—indeed, billions of dollars if done properly. But, of course, that is not what we have seen from this government.

We've had reports this week that over a million Australians are so concerned about the way this government has implemented the My Health Record that they have opted out. Over a million Australians have already opted out. The government admitted that there were some issues in this, and they did extend the opt-out period for people who wanted to opt out. But Labor has called on the government to actually halt the whole process because it has been so bungled. Their failure to communicate has fuelled many of the privacy and security concerns around the e-health record and the My Health Record.

We've had a lot of issues raised with us. You can imagine some of the concerns that I have had raised with me, as the shadow minister for ageing and mental health, particularly from people suffering mental ill health who want to be able to control their health record and who know how important it is that the physicians, doctors and nurses taking care of their health actually have access to this important information. They don't want to have to explain their stories and their illnesses every single time they need to access services. But they quite rightly point out that they want to be able to control their records, which is what the My Health Record was designed to do. But they are concerned about the security of these records because of the way the government has mishandled them. They are rightly concerned.

We had a Senate inquiry not that long ago about insurance companies and some of the issues that have been going on. We've now, of course, had the royal commission into banking and financial services that has been looking at insurance issues, and we've had a lot of people with mental ill health raise issues around disclosure of their conditions and what happens. This is why they are concerned about the government's control of their records and about how they are able to opt out and hide the information that they don't want to be there but able to have access so the people who are supporting them to receive the services they need to be well can actually have the information that is relevant.

We know that the e-health record could be really important when it comes to older Australians and things like polypharmacy and more diagnostics. If they have a fall and they go to a hospital, they then have to have a whole range of tests, some of which they may have already had but the hospital doesn't have access to. So we can see how important this health record could be if done properly. But, shamefully, that doesn't appear to have happened.

We are very concerned that the government has undermined confidence in what should have been something really powerful and really useful for those people who need it most. Instead, what we've seen is that those people who need it most are the most likely not to use it, because they have serious concerns about the government—about the government being able to look after their privacy and about the government being able to ensure the security of these records. It is very concerning for people who are contacting me in my office. A whole range of people—the experts in this area and, indeed, the AMA—have actually come out and talked about their concerns about the My Health Record. Indeed, the AMA have said that they want to ensure that the government gets this right. They've said that they have at all times wanted to support the concept of the My Health Record, because they know how valuable it is, but they have had concerns. I do admit that some of them have now been addressed by the government, but there are still concerns, and this government has still bungled it.

Clearly, when over a million Australians have opted out, there are still some concerns out there in the community. As I said, this opt-out period ends in November. So, here we are in September. People's opt-out period hasn't been going for that long really, and, as I said, the government did extend it by a month. How many more Australians are going to opt out of this system? How valuable will it be if we get millions of Australians opting out? It would be a shame if the government didn't halt this, fix it properly and run a community campaign so that people could properly understand the benefits of the My Health Record: that it would save them telling their story every time they get a referral and every time they go somewhere and that it would stop tests having to be repeated—the diagnostics, blood tests and scans that your clinicians and specialists and the people looking after your care should already have access to. In emergency departments and hospitals, there are increased wait times because this information is not available when the people looking after you need it most. The government has completely undermined confidence in this system, and it should be ashamed.

I'm obviously supporting the amendment moved by the member for Ballarat. I've spoken to the member for Ballarat about my concerns for people with mental ill health and their concerns and the concerns that are being raised with me every day. She has been extraordinarily responsive, because she understands this issue, I think, better than the government. Quite frankly, the Minister for Health doesn't seem to understand quite how concerned the community is, but when over one million Australians have already opted out—and we don't know how many more will between now and November—clearly something has to change. Clearly there's a problem here, and the government needs to do something about it.

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