State government ensures public COVID-19 contact tracing data can only be shared in ‘matters of life and death’
the sun herald revealed that WorkCover investigators wanted access to contact tracing data while investigating hotel quarantine failures and took their request all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was denied.
The Ministry of Health then tried to hide the affair from the public for five years, the sun herald yet revealed.
Commander Jeroen Weimar argued that “if the public were aware that there was a risk of contact tracing and QR code information being leaked to third parties, it would significantly harm the state’s ability to manage the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The Director General of Health’s report released this afternoon said ‘media reports this morning do not accurately reflect what happened’.
The report says the Department of Health asked the court for the removal ‘to ensure that Victorians can continue to have confidence in one of the key measures to keep us safe’.
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The Victorian government has repeatedly assured that data collected by contact tracers and QR codes will “only be used for public health purposes and nothing else”.
“This information is only there for 28 days, then it is destroyed,” Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said in June.
However, Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan today revealed that Victoria Police, along with WorkCover, attempted to access the data.
In the WorkCover case before the Supreme Court, the judge concluded the case by noting that data “cannot (have) absolute protection”.
Ms Allan today reassured the public that new pandemic legislation, introduced just weeks ago, has strengthened data protections.
She said under new pandemic laws, QR code data could be shared in a matter of life and death if demanded in court.
“I want to be very, very clear, it’s a very, very narrow base, which is only there for these extreme circumstances,” she said.
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