Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Information Disclosure, National Interest and Other Measures) Bill 2022. This bill is about trying to save Australian lives, so it is of the utmost importance to the Albanese Labor government. The intent of the bill is to improve the operations and transparencies of the relationship between law enforcement agencies and telecommunication companies.

For the smooth operations of daily life, the relationship between telecommunication organisations, the public and law enforcement is particularly important. It needs to be a solid and well-functioning relationship. Disclosure of telecommunications data to save a life or a missing person has too high a threshold to reach, and it's arguable that it has previously cost Australian lives. Therefore, the bill before us responds directly to these recommendations to better protect the safety and wellbeing of Australians who may find themselves in dangerous and life-threatening circumstances.

The bill increases accountability and transparency through enhanced recordkeeping and requirements for disclosure. That's a key difference between this Albanese Labor government and previous Liberal-National governments. Currently, law enforcement is unduly obstructed in locating missing persons, because telecommunication companies can only help determine the location of a person if there is a perceived threat to a person's life or health that is serious and imminent. Therefore, the bill before us removes the requirement that the threat be imminent. This will allow greater flexibility in cases of life and death or missing persons—a reasonable and just change under the law.

Further, in the interests of public safety, the bill enhances emergency disclosures from the Integrated Public Number Database, known as the IPND, a database of all Australian phone numbers and associated names and addresses. Currently, the IPND manager is prohibited from disclosing the associated name and address to emergency call persons if the number calling triple 0 is unlisted, even when that information is necessary to providing someone with life-saving emergency services. The bill amends the act so that the IPND manager can disclose information about a subscriber to the triple 0 emergency call person in connection with a call to triple 0. This will provide emergency services personnel with greater flexibility to locate individuals in need of emergency assistance.

As part of the National Emergency Declaration Act 2022, these provisions were broadened to allow telecommunications companies to provide reasonable and necessary assistance to emergency service organisations. However, that act unintentionally did not include protections for telecommunications companies acting in good faith from liability or damages. This bill corrects that error.

Following recommendations from the Office of the Information Commissioner and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, the bill improves the record-keeping requirements on the telecommunications industry to include more details about the authorisation of disclosures under the act. Major telecommunications providers and the Communications Alliance have been consulted on the bill, with amendments made in response to their requests.

These proposed amendments are good for our country. The personal safety of Australians has to be paramount. These amendments minimise regulatory impact and provide benefit to industry, law enforcement agencies and emergency service organisations. I firmly believe that this bill from the Albanese Labor government will save lives.