Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024

Andrew McLachlan

I will now deal with the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024, first dealing with the second reading amendments circulated by the opposition. The question is that the opposition amendments on sheets 3163 and 3227 be agreed to.

Opposition's circulated amendments—

SHEET 3163

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate notes that:

(a) this bill inappropriately consolidates 3 separate and distinct matters into a single bill, hindering the Senate in expressing its view on distinct matters about which opinions may reasonably differ;

(b) the Government decided not to release any cost-benefit or impact analysis of this legislation, hindering the Senate in understanding the effects of the proposed changes;

(c) despite requests from multiple stakeholders and the highly technical nature of the legislation, the Government decided not to conduct an exposure draft process, preventing those affected from understanding the impact of the legislation before it was introduced into the Parliament;

(d) the Government provided inadequate time for inquiry into the legislation, preventing those affected—including critical stakeholders who are directly affected—from properly scrutinising the legislation; and

(e) these basic failures of process prevent the Senate from carrying out its democratic function of scrutinising legislation and are inconsistent with the Government's own commitment to transparency".

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SHEET 3227

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate notes that both the Coalition and Labor support doxxing reforms".