PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms MILLER-FROST (Boothby) (18:07): In a world where our personal data is increasingly being harvested, commercialised and sold for profit, Australians very much value their privacy. The 2026 Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy survey found that 93 per cent of Australians say protecting personal privacy is important. However, 78 per cent also reported that they feel they have little or no control over how their information is collected or used, and 73 per cent reported at least one privacy related concern in the last year.
Our data is harvested and used in so many ways. Frequent flyer schemes record what we buy, how often and where we shop. Data brokers sell lists of contact details for cold calling.
Biometric data such as fingerprints, facial recognition and iris patterns are harvested to assist in access to online services such as banking, and doxxing is used to threaten, intimidate or punish. Every online shop wants your personal details, a credit card, a username and password to set up an account, and every time I log on I have another red flag telling me that data for one or more of these accounts has been caught up in a data breach.
The changes to privacy legislation currently being consulted on by the Attorney-General are really important for keeping us safe, but I want to talk in particular about e-glasses. Now, we've all seen the media about the negatives of e-glasses—creeps, pervs and people being filmed without their knowledge or consent—but there is another side of e-glasses, a positive side.
I happened to be sitting next to Damian Papps, the CEO of the Royal Society for the Blind's See Differently in South Australia, at a recent guide dog graduation ceremony. He said to me, 'A guide dog can help you get to the supermarket, but it can't tell you that that's a tin of tomatoes in front of you on the shelf or what it costs.' So I asked him to write to me as part of this consultation, and I'm going to read out some of what he said.
He says: 'I am writing to highlight the transformative potential of smart glasses for Australians who are blind or vision impaired and to encourage consideration of how emerging artificial intelligence technologies may enhance independence, participation and inclusion for people living with vision loss. While these glasses were originally developed as a consumer technology product, they are increasingly being recognised internationally as a powerful accessibility tool.
Equipped with a camera, voice controls, open-ear speakers and artificial intelligence, the glasses can describe a person's surroundings, read text aloud, identify objects, provide contextual information, and connect users with remote assistance, all while remaining hands-free. For many people who are blind or have low vision, the glasses can support everyday tasks that sighted individuals take for granted, such as reading mail, menus, signs and notices; identifying household items, food products and packaging; receiving descriptions of surroundings and objects; accessing real-time assistance without needing to handle a phone; staying connected through voice messaging and calls; and supporting independent travel and navigation when used alongside traditional mobility aids.
These glasses are already being trialled overseas with great success. One Vision Ireland participant Brian Manning described the impact by stating: "What I really like about the glasses is the speed at which I get the information I need. Instead of waiting for someone to read a letter or tell me what I have in the fridge, I'll just do it on impulse.
Now I'm doing things for myself independently that maybe before I wouldn't have done." Meta has made Ray-Ban Meta glasses available free of charge to more than 130,000 legally blind veterans across the United States. Blind veteran Don Overton spoke about the effect of technology on his independence: "The moment I put these glasses on, I instantly realised this was revolutionary."' Damian Papps says: 'For many Australians living with disabilities, one of the greatest barriers is not mobility but access to information.
Beyond vision loss, e-glasses can also transform access to information and learning for people with low literacy, dyslexia or other barriers. Reading printed material, processing written information, recalling instructions, completing educational tasks, understanding complex documents and navigating unfamiliar environments can present significant challenges. The ability of AI-powered smart glasses to listen, interpret, describe, explain and respond in real time has the potential to fundamentally change how people access information and participate in education, employment and community.
Perhaps the most powerful outcome is the increased independence these technologies can provide.' I'd like to commend the Attorney-General for putting the proposed privacy changes out to consultation so that the disability community can ensure that a valuable accessibility tool is appropriately dealt with in any resulting legislation.