The federal Greens say they will look to abolish the mandatory data retention scheme and set up a digital rights commissioner, as they spruik their ACT candidates ahead of next year's election.
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The party launched its digital policy on Wednesday night with ACT Greens lead senate Candidate Dr Penny Kyburz, who has also been a video game developer, computer science lecturer and digital rights campaigner.
She also works for Greens senator Jordon Steele-John, who said the digital rights of Australians had to be protected.
“In the last few years we’ve seen a truly terrifying expansion of the powers of the Home Affairs Department aided by a compliant Labor party more worried about appearing soft to voters than protecting our rights to privacy, security and safety online," Senator Steele-John said.
“Meanwhile we’ve seen the equally terrifying rise of surveillance capitalism and data-farming – pioneered by Facebook – that has already had a significant impact on democracies across the world.
“If we don’t make a concerted effort now to enshrine our digital rights in legislation and follow the lead of world leaders in this space – such as the recently enacted GDPR in the European Union – then we will never be able to wind back government overreach in this space.”
To that end, the party has said it wants to establish a digital rights commissioner, repeal the mandatory data retention scheme, and strengthen Australian privacy laws.
Dr Kyburz said she believed there were "very few people on any sides of our parliament with the knowledge or skills to keep up with changing technology, let alone look ahead and make a plan for the future"
Their comments as Health Minister Greg Hunt was forced to extend to opt-out period for the My Health Record system until January 31, after mounting concerns about privacy and security.
