Senator John Faulkner
37/2008
11 December 2008
This week the Government conducted five major consultations with non-government stakeholders on the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recommendations to establish Unified Privacy Principles (UPPs), to underpin Commonwealth privacy laws.
Consultations have also considered re-writing the credit provisions in the Privacy Act.
I would like to thank all the participants, who represented 69 consumer groups, privacy advocates, organisations and industry groups. Their views will inform the Government as it prepares exposure draft legislation, to be released next year.
Privacy laws for public and private sectors are at variance in the current Act. The ALRC report released in August this year: For Your Information, recommends the harmonisation of privacy laws, through what they refer to as UPPs, which will become the building blocks of a new Privacy Act. The ALRC also recommended inclusion of positive information in credit reports.
On 11 August, the Government announced a two stage process for considering the ALRC's recommendations with UPPs and credit reporting being considered in stage one, over the next year.
In late November, the Government also conducted the first round table for private sector organisations with an interest in the credit reporting provisions. Over 22 organisations including banks, telecommunication providers and credit reporting agencies were represented at that meeting.
Anyone with an interest in the ALRC's recommendations can register via a link http://www.pmc.gov.au/privacy/alrc.cfm on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website. Short final submissions to Government identifying any perceived problems or gaps with the ALRC's recommendations in relation to the UPPs or credit provisions can be lodged up until the end of January 2009.
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