PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (17:52): I rise to speak on this motion in relation to privacy law reform. From the many listening posts and engagements I have out in the community, it's very clear that the people of the southern Gold Coast consider their privacy to be one of the most important concerns that they have, especially in this day and age, as we see the rise of artificial intelligence and of new technologies.

So it is fitting that we are having a discussion on privacy law reform. It is definitely something that we need to consider in this place. In fact, I'd say it is well overdue.

Look at some of the advancements in technology. Smart glasses, for example, have been available in this country since 2023, yet it's taken until 2026 for the Attorney-General to ask the privacy commissioner to urgently examine the issue. We can't be behind the cart on this.

We need to be taking the initiative and being proactive in this place. I'm going to speak to this motion, and there are a few parts that I'd like to touch on. Firstly, the coalition does support strong privacy protections and laws that are going to keep pace with the rapid evolution that we are seeing in the AI and tech space.

There is no doubt about that. The government has released an exposure draft of these further Privacy Act reforms, and we will consider that, but we're going to consider that carefully because, as we know when it comes to this government, the devil is always in the detail. There are already concerns that are being raised by industry and by businesses, and we will take those on board.

This motion congratulates the government on undertaking an extensive consultation process. I think we need to unpack that and we need to be a little bit honest and not stretch the truth here. This exposure draft was released on 31 August, and submissions are closing on 18 September.

That's less than three weeks for stakeholders and businesses to work through what is a substantial and technically complex legislative package. If, by an extensive consultation process, this motion is referring to that three weeks, I say that I think the government needs to reconsider its wording. The other point I want to make is in relation to the burden this legislation could put on small business.

Small businesses, as we all know in this place—we say it every day—are struggling at the moment. We're seeing record insolvencies across the place. I represent an electorate with more than 20,000 small businesses, and they are doing it tough, quite frankly.

Part of the issue for them, even if we put cost of living to the side, is the fact that they are being tied in knots when it comes to regulatory complexity. And in relation to any privacy law reform we need to make sure the government is up-front and honest with small businesses about who is going to, firstly, cover the cost of the reform and, secondly, have to deal with the regulatory burden of it.

If history is anything to go by, under this government, small businesses aren't going to be better off as a result of these reforms, and they can't, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, be burdened with the compliance costs and the time costs of complying with these reforms. So any legislation needs to be very clear—and we will be keeping a very close eye on this—about who's going to be responsible for those various elements of compliance and costs.

I say that because small businesses shouldn't be dragged into an environment that's more complex and expensive. I visited a small business in my electorate recently—actually, it's not a small business anymore; it's progressed a little bit past that, which is fantastic. It's a technical business, and they have 50 per cent of their staff employed for compliance.

This is a business of about 45 people. So we have to make sure that with the decisions in this place—even if they are motivated by good intentions and wanting to make sure that, as a country, we are complying with our privacy obligations—small businesses aren't going to have to bear the brunt of that. So I say to the government, this is a conversation we should be having.

It is. But we need to go about it in the right way. We need to make sure that meaningful consultation is in fact meaningful consultation.

And those on this side of the parliament will hold those on that side to account. It is something that is so important to the people of the southern Gold Coast and around the country.