Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I thank those members who have contributed to the debate on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Information Disclosure, National Interest and Other Measures) Bill 2022. This bill amends a range of telecommunications legislation. Among other crucial functions, these amendments are intended to help save lives.

In response to recommendations from two coronial inquests, the bill supports telecommunications companies to better protect the safety and wellbeing of Australians in danger. Specifically, the bill removes the requirement that a serious threat to a person's life or health also be imminent before telcos are able to help law enforcement. Without this amendment, we risk the lives and safety of more Australians as a result of this, at times, unrealistic, standard.

There has been some valuable discussion around the privacy aspects of the bill. I want to make it clear: this bill increases privacy safeguards while improving the existing mechanism to help emergency services save lives. Disclosures will now only be permitted in cases where it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain the consent of the person the disclosure relates to. Limiting disclosure to cases where it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain consent provides an additional safeguard for the right to privacy, in cases where a person is reported to police as missing but wishes not to be contacted or found. This directly contemplates circumstances of family violence.

Furthermore, the bill also proposes a consequential amendment to the Telecommunications Act to curtail any secondary disclosures of information, unless it is also connected to preventing a serious threat to the person's life. As such, police agencies will not be permitted to disclose information about a person's whereabouts or contact information to third parties, such as family members, unless it is with the consent of the person involved—for example, once the person is found. My department understands that this is consistent with existing practice in missing persons cases. Police agencies do not disclose information about a person's whereabouts to third parties.

There is an important role for police and emergency service organisations in building the case that the threat to life or health is serious and that the consent of the person cannot reasonably or practicably be obtained. It is important to note that, as the explanatory memorandum makes clear, telecommunications companies would be relying on the representations of police and emergency service organisations in forming a view on whether a threat were serious, rather than on representations made by members of the public who claim to have some connection with the missing person.

It is important not to lose sight of the purpose of this bill. The bill seeks to carefully balance the right to privacy against the need to help police and emergency service organisations to find people where there is a reasonable belief of a serious threat to their life. The bill also further enhances public safety by making clear that unlisted telephone numbers can be disclosed to the triple 0 emergency call person, where it is unreasonable to obtain the person's consent. This will enable emergency services to do what is necessary to save lives.

The bill also corrects an error from the National Emergency Declaration Act 2020, such that telecommunications companies are granted protections from liability for damages when acting in good faith during national emergencies. This amendment extends longstanding provisions in the Telecommunications Act regarding reasonable and necessary assistance in the national interest. The bill also enhances transparency and accountability in the handling of personal data by improving record-keeping requirements to include more details about the authorisation of information disclosures.

These proposed amendments will provide benefits to industry, law enforcement agencies and emergency services, but, most importantly, as I have said, the proposed amendments will help save lives. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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