24 August 2006

The Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has made a submission to the Attorney-General''s Department on the second exposure draft of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2006.

''While recognising the potential benefits to the community of measures to address money-laundering and terrorism financing, the appropriate balance must be achieved. This is particularly the case where the collection of large amounts of personal information, including financial information is involved'', Ms Curtis said.

The Office has made a number of recommendations, including that:

• a separate process be undertaken to consider the issue of whether Australian government agencies, other than the traditional law enforcement agencies, should be able to have direct access to AUSTRAC information to use for purposes unrelated to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing;

• the Bill needs to ensure that information collected by AUSTRAC that is passed on to state and territory government agencies will be subject to adequate privacy protection. Not all states and territories have enacted privacy legislation, which means there is a lack of uniformity in the protections and the remedies available; and

• there should be limits on how long the information collected under this legislation should be kept by reporting entities and government agencies.

''I believe these recommendations could assist in reducing the impact this Bill may have on individual privacy, while still enabling effective monitoring of targeted financial transactions'', Ms Curtis said.

The Office has also recommended that a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) be conducted on the operation of this legislation, ideally by an independent expert specialising in privacy issues and the conduct of PIAs.

• Submission to the Attorney-General's Department: Consultation on the second exposure draft of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Funding Bill 2006

Background

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner provided submissions on the first exposure draft to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee Inquiry in March 2006[1], and to the Attorney-General''s Department in April 2006[2]. The Office also provided evidence at the public hearings for the Senate Inquiry on 14 March 2006[3].

The second exposure draft was released on 13 July 2006.