9 August 2002

"DNA testing all children at birth and storing this sensitive data on a criminal database has the very real potential to undermine our civil liberties by eroding our privacy and implying that we are all guilty until proven innocent," said Federal Privacy Commissioner, Malcolm Crompton.

"In the current environment there is little chance that such a sensitive genetic database could be secure enough to absolutely guarantee that the information would not be able to be used to frame people for crimes, or for other unrelated purposes.

"As we recently discovered when In Vitro twins were born to the wrong parents, mix ups do occur-- even those systems that claim to have the highest possible standards fail. With DNA information, once a mistake has been made it is very difficult to fix or to undo the damage.

"There is also the temptation with such powerful databases to broaden their use once the data has been collected. These types of systems fundamentally erode our ability to control what happens with our sensitive genetic information and who gets access to it. The potential for law enforcement agencies, employers, insurance companies and government agencies to access and misuse the information is too great simply to ignore.

"On a daily basis my Office deals with the inappropriate misuse of people's personal information. Why would this database be any different? The damage that could potentially be done through the mis-use of such sensitive information is enormous, innocent people could go to jail, insurance companies could deny people cover, employers could refuse to hire people or dismiss them.

"Even though the proposal suggests that only information from so called 'junk DNA' be collected and stored, scientific advancements could mean that in the future the information from this junk DNA could be able to tell the database operators a lot about us.

"While this proposal is clearly under-developed its framework is better thought through and has better checks and balances than the current arrangements in place to oversee Australia's DNA database system (a federal database system linking the DNA information of all serious criminal offenders in Australia).

"As acknowledged by the Minister for Justice during parliamentary debate, the accountability mechanisms for Australia�s DNA database system are inadequate and need to be constructed (CrimTrac is one element of this system). This is why I am calling on everybody who is interested to make a submission to the Commonwealth review, which is currently underway, of Australia�s DNA database system accountability arrangements.

"It is clear that genetic information and its uses has the potential to significantly impact on the lives of individuals. It is for that reason that it is essential that the community as a whole has the opportunity to participate in a rigorous and thorough debate on this issue before jumping to solutions.

"Only after broad and considered debate will we be in a better position to step confidently into the future by ensuring that we all have the ability to control what happens to our information and the right to be left to live our lives free from innuendo, unnecessary suspicion and unnecessary surveillance.

Web Links: Commissioner's Crimtrac media announcement, Independent Review of CrimTrac Begins (23/7/2002) Australia's DNA Database System review web site