23rd Feb 2021, 7:15 PM – Senate Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021 - Second Reading - Privacy concerns

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). If successful, this amendment would have added the text below to the usual motion.

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add: ", but the Senate is of the opinion that:

(a) Australians should have more control over how companies collect data about them online, who has access to that data, and how, and for what purposes, that data is used;

(b) concerns over privacy, and the use of personal data for commercial gain, can no longer be ignored by the Government; and

(c) the Government must implement, as a matter of priority, protections equivalent to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation".