MP files bill to protect COVID-19 check-in data

A proposed bill in the House of Representatives aims to ban the government from using COVID-19 check-in data for law enforcement purposes.

The Privacy (COVID Check-in Data) Bill 2021 seeks to prevent Commonwealth, state, or territorial authorities from using personal data gathered from check-in systems and contact-tracing sheets for enforcement-related activities. The bill states that its purpose is to support the effective management and control of COVID-19 by providing stronger privacy protections for the public.

On the bill’s explanatory note, it said that the country “does not have a nationally consistent approach to preventing law enforcement from accessing COVID-19 check-in data.” Protection systems vary across the different states and territories. Some places allow personal information to be accessed for unrelated law enforcement purposes through a warrant, while others have prohibited it.

This inconsistency across state and territory regulations causes “distrust” among the people and “undermines the effectiveness of COVID-19 check-ins,” the bill said.

The bill also defines “enforcement-related activity” as having the same meaning as in the Privacy Act 1988. It includes prevention or prosecution of criminal offences, the conduct of surveillance and intelligence gathering activities, among others.

However, the prohibition against authorities from using and disclosing COVID check-in data for law enforcement provides an exception. The bill states that the ban does not apply if the data was obtained “from a source that is not directly or indirectly from a COVID check-in app or de-identified statistical information.”

Adam Bandt MP sponsored the bill, which was introduced and read for the first time in the House of Representatives on 25 October.