Health record data leak inevitable: Labor

Labor says it is "foolish" for the government to think data leaks won't occur in its e-health record system and the government needs to be ready when it does.

Labor has warned Australians' health records will inevitably leak through a controversial online system, urging the government to go further in protecting data.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said her party would not oppose legislation to strengthen the e-health records system from passing the lower house.

But she flagged a Senate debate once an inquiry into the system had been completed.

"It is foolish of any government to say this data won't leak at some point. What are the protections for people when that actually occurs?" Ms King told parliament on Monday.

Police and government agencies will need a court order to obtain patient data from the My Health Record system under the bill.

The draft laws also ensure data from a patient who opts out of the system will be deleted.

Security changes were prompted by vocal privacy concerns from medical groups, unions and legal experts.

When introducing the measures, Health Minister Greg Hunt said no patient information had been compromised during the system's six-year trial.

But Labor says the extra protections aren't enough, repeating calls for the system's opt-out phase to be suspended until all privacy and security issues are dealt with.

Ms King raised concerns the data could be used by domestic violence perpetrators to find the address of former partners, with both parents having access to their children's data through the records.

The Australian Medical Association told the Senate inquiry last week that measures should be put in place to ensure private health insurers can never get their hands on the system's data.

Representatives from the Digital Health Agency told a hearing on Monday night that almost five times as many Australians have opted out of the system than those that have opted into it since July 16.

About 900,000 have opted out and 181,000 have opted in, with 6.1 million people in total registered on the system as of September 9.

The agency's chief executive Tim Kelsey said the numbers were surprising.

"We had anticipated significantly higher levels of opt-out than we're seeing...and we certainly hadn't anticipated such high levels of opt-in," he told the inquiry.

An agency survey found about 59 per cent of Australians are aware they are going to have record created for them and have the ability to opt out of the system.

Mr Kelsey said the agency is spending almost $5 million on its advertising campaign aimed at boosting awareness of the system.


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Source: AAP



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