A wide-ranging inquiry into Australia's privacy laws has found they are failing to keep pace with new technologies such as smartcards, microchips, biometrics and gene technology.
Australian Democrats' Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, who initiated the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee inquiry, said the evidence presented to the Committee was deeply disturbing.
"Even credit-reporting agencies conceded that most Australians no longer have any control over their personal information and the concept of consent has become meaningless," said Senator Stott Despoja.
The evidence shows that our privacy laws are inconsistent, confusing, full of exemptions and years behind technology. It is clear that radical reforms are required urgently.
"Significantly, the Committee recommended that the current exemption for politicians in the Privacy Act should be reconsidered, despite the impact this would have on the extensive constituent databases operated by the Government and Opposition.
"It would be an important, symbolic gesture for politicians to commit to the same level of privacy protection that they expect Australian business, industry and community groups to adhere to.
"Constituents should be able to access the information that politicians collect about them and correct that information if it is inaccurate.
"Privacy is vital to the well-being of our society. We all need private space and the ability to engage in private communications in order to build strong families and friendships.
"We should be able to send an intimate email to a friend on the other side of the world, without fearing that it might be read by someone else. And we need to honestly relay symptoms to our doctor without the risk that this information might end up in the hands of a marketing company.
"If our everyday lives are becoming inhibited because of a lack of privacy, we have to wonder whether new technologies are really being used in a way that best serves the community," said Senator Stott Despoja.
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