The Senate has agreed to Labor’s proposal to subject Malcolm Turnbull’s My Health Record fiasco to a comprehensive inquiry amid significant ongoing privacy and security concerns.
We remain deeply concerned that the Government’s bungled rollout of the My Health Record opt-out period has severely undermined public trust in this important reform. That’s why we proposed an inquiry on Tuesday.
Labor has long supported an electronic health record system. We believe it has the capacity to revolutionise health care delivery, but we also recognise it needs a high degree of public support in order to be successful.
While the Government has agreed to a number of changes demanded by Labor and doctors’ groups, including an extension of the opt-out period and a new public information campaign, more needs to be done.
We are disappointed the Greens did a dodgy deal with the Government to truncate the inquiry but Labor’s terms of reference remain intact.
We’re also surprised the Government ended up supporting the inquiry referral despite Greg Hunt yesterday dismissing Labor’s proposal as “a stunt”.
This will be a wide-ranging inquiry that will review all the laws, regulations and rules that underpin the My Health Record.
It will examine the Government’s decision to shift from an opt-in system to an opt-out system and whether it adequately prepared for this fundamental change from Labor’s system.
It will examine a range of privacy and security concerns, including the adequacy of the system’s log-in procedures and default settings. It will also consider issues raised in the public domain around domestic violence and workers’ compensation.
The inquiry will look at the adequacy of the Government’s public information campaign, and the potential that commercial interests – including health insurers – could be given access to My Health data.
We encourage everyone with a view on the My Health Record to make a submission to the inquiry.
Labor remains of the view the Government should suspend the My Health Record rollout until this mess can be cleaned up.
WEDNESDAY, 15 AUGUST 2018