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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2205 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

I see that a lot of people on the floor of the Assembly are listening at the moment. It is nonsense to say that the Government is in contempt of the Assembly because it accepts only nine of 11 recommendations. If Mr Moore or anybody else maintains that governments are in contempt in those circumstances, there are lots of reports - in fact, I dare say almost every report ever presented to the Assembly - that governments have had some degree of disagreement with.

The Government, in its response today, has proposed a trial over the coming summer. I can assure members that it will not be possible - Mr Moore, I hope you are listening to this - to implement legislation in time for that to occur. It is expensive, and it is not possible to do it in the time available. I say to members again that, if they want to have this trial junked, then passing this amendment is the way to do it. My party makes no bones or expresses no regrets about going to the next ACT election and making it clear that we have measures that we believe would improve the safety of people of this Territory and we have been blocked from implementing them by the Legislative Assembly.

Mr Moore: You have already had the report for 10 months. You could have had it drawn up by now.

MR HUMPHRIES: Where was the money coming from, Mr Moore, to pay for the development of such legislation? Where was the money, Mr Moore?

Let me go to another point that has been raised in this debate. We are told that we need privacy legislation to protect people who are subject to these cameras. Let me surprise members by pointing out that there is already privacy legislation which comprehensively protects people in these circumstances.

Mr Moore: That is Federal legislation.

MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, it is Federal legislation. Members of the committee, I think a little bit hastily, accepted some comments made by the head of the privacy branch of the Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In a report published in New Zealand, Nigel Waters said:

The Federal Privacy Act 1988 is the only information privacy law in Australia with legally binding rules. It regulates the handling of personal information by Commonwealth government agencies and all users of consumer credit information and Tax File Numbers. It does not cover video surveillance.

In commenting on that, the committee said:

The Committee is very concerned that people's right to privacy is protected. It considers that not only should there be legislation to protect people's privacy but that it should include penalties for inappropriate access, use and disclosure of recordings.

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