Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Community Affairs References Committee on My Health Record system together with the Hansard record of the proceedings and documents presented to the committee, and move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

This committee inquiry received 118 submissions and we heard some very significant points of view in the committee. We held three hearings. I think that the number of submissions demonstrates the importance of My Health Record to the community and also the importance of getting it right. Also, it's very clear that the community want their concerns to be heard, and we did hear many. Although we did hear many concerns, overall it's fair to say that the purpose of the My Health Record system is supported. People recognise the benefits that a properly—and I reiterate the word 'properly'—executed digital record will have for both individuals and the broader public health for our community. If properly executed, the system may lead to improvements in the quality of health care and health outcomes for many Australians.

The committee makes 14 recommendations, which, if implemented, we certainly think would lead to significant changes to My Health Record. The report shows the need for improvement to the current legislation and, in some cases, the approach, and it was one of the bases for which Senators Di Natale and Watt moved a motion calling on the government to extend the opt-out period earlier today until the amended legislation can be passed. We talk about the opt-out period in this report. Again, I'd like to encourage the government to extend the opt-out period. That's certainly something a lot of people want to see.

A key theme of these recommendations, and something the committee kept hearing, is the need to ensure that the information in the record is used for a person's health only, not for the benefit or purposes of an employer—and we heard some concerning evidence about the possibility there; although we acknowledge that that's, in fact, not the government's intent—and/or the government to recoup revenue or any commercial purposes. The committee recommends these changes be enshrined in legislation.

Another key theme was for the Australian Digital Health Agency to, as much as possible, ensure that Australians understand their records and how to use them. It was very obvious that there are a lot of Australians who don't understand the records or how to use them. A number of witnesses noted that the record appears to be based on the assumption that individuals have a high level of health literacy. Submitters expressed concern about the ability of the average consumer to opt out of the record or set appropriate privacy settings, and they noted low levels of digital literacy among some groups of consumers. While the Australian Digital Health Agency and the Department of Health both provided evidence about the information they are providing to consumers about My Health Record, it was notable that many community and consumer groups did not feel that this was necessarily sufficient. Accordingly, the report recommends that the Australian Digital Health Agency revise its media strategy to provide more targeted comprehensive education about My Health Record.

As I articulated earlier, many people are supportive of the move to the digital health record, but we have to get it right, and that's what we note in the report. The committee has listened to the voices of Australians about My Health Record, and we encourage the government to do the same and respond to these recommendations. From the Australian Greens point of view, we remain supportive of the move to the digital health record, but we want to make sure we get it right. I encourage the government to look at these recommendations. They're put forward by the committee in the spirit of trying to make sure that we make this system as effective and useful as possible for individuals and the provision of healthcare in our community.

Before I conclude, I would like to very strongly thank, as usual, the secretariat, who, once again—truly in this instance—went above and beyond, working over the weekend so that we could get this done. The idea was that this report would be read with the bill report, to inform the debate on the My Health Records Amendment (Strengthening Privacy) Bill. The bill didn't come up this week but will presumably be debated the next time we're in this place. The idea is to read this report in concert with the bill. In fact, we held the two inquiries together; we didn't hold a separate bill inquiry. The evidence we got for this references report was in fact used for the bill report as well. We encourage people to please read the bill report and this report when we're engaging in that debate. So I thank the committee secretariat from the bottom of my heart for the work that they put in. As I said, it was certainly above and beyond the call of duty. I'd also like to thank all our witnesses, who again came in at fairly short notice, and we went fairly late into the evening in our hearings. I'm not sure if anybody else in the chamber is speaking on this. If nobody is, I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.