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ALA calls for federal legislation to protect COVID-19 tracing data
A national legal body has warned that unless there is major law reform behind the COVID-19 tracing data, serious breaches “could very quickly become a reality”.
Naomi Neilson
The Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA) has thrown its support behind the Greens’ plan to introduce a bill to parliament that would ban law enforcement agencies from accessing data through COVID-19 tracing. Any federal legislation should instead limit the use of this data for health purposes in each state and territory, ALA said.
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Lawyer and spokesperson Greg Barns SC said that unless there is serious reform, individuals may be subject to data breaches. He cautioned that without reform, the public would not have the confidence in inputting their data into critical tracing codes.
“There needs to be an application of serious sanctions and personal liability for leaders who allow the illegal and unethical gathering of data,” Mr Barns said. “In addition, laws are needed to make it impossible for evidence obtained as a result of accessing COVID-19 tracing data to be used in legal proceedings.”
The Greens are seeking to expand existing bans in NSW, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia that limit the use of COVID-19 data by law enforcement. It follows calls from backbench MPs that police have already used the COVID-19 data on a number of occasions as part of criminal investigations.
In June, a Queensland Police officer was stood down after gaining access to check-in data through a search warrant. Western Australia Police similarly used the data, which led to the state-wide ban on officers accessing any of the COVID-19 information.
Mr Barns said contract tracing apps rely on public confidence on how their highly personal data is collected and stored. If they don’t have this confidence that it is being accessed for health purposes only, “they will stop using the app”.
“This will have a devastating impact on the protection of public health,” he said.
“Police, law enforcement, security agencies, and many politicians have very little respect for current privacy laws. This culture, and the extraordinary quantity of data now available, means the tracing app is fertile ground for further undermining our right to privacy. As a result, federal legislation to protect data is urgently needed.”
