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Mr Hunt has refused to further extend the opt-out deadline, after already giving Australians an extra month to decide.
A pre-emptive motion calling on the government to “suspend or extend” the opt-out period pbaded in the Senate on Monday with the support of most crossbenchers, leaving Labor confident it will have the numbers.
And with the government no longer holding a majority in the House of Representatives, if the substantive motion pbades the Senate on Wednesday, it could go on to pbad both houses.
Mr Hunt last week agreed to six key amendments to better safeguard patients’ privacy, as recommended by a Senate inquiry, but these will not pbad into law before the opt-out deadline pbades.
Ms King said while she welcomed the minister’s announcement, it was “imperative the opt-out period does not end until all privacy and security concerns are fully addressed”.
“The opt-out period must not end until the clean-up legislation has pbaded the Parliament … There’s no guarantee the legislation will even pbad this year,” she said.
“A 12-month extension will give the government time to commission and implement a Privacy Commissioner review to address outstanding concerns.”
Newly elected Wentworth independent Kerryn Phelps, a GP and outspoken critic of the controversial e-health system, now holds the balance of power in the lower house with other crossbenchers.
“The government needs to take seriously the decision of the Senate to recommend an extension of the opt-out date,” Dr Phelps said on Tuesday.
“Anyone who has legitimate concerns over My Health Record now has little choice but to opt out until these problems are addressed.”
A government bill that would enshrine a patient’s right to permanently delete their My Health Record, and ensure that police may only access a person’s medical history with a court order, is expected to come up for debate in the Senate on Wednesday.
The legislation has already pbaded in the House of Representatives, but must go back to the lower house once the amended bill pbades in the Senate.
The Senate is sitting alone this week, while the lower house will have its final two-week sitting period of the year from November 26.
The changes announced last week, which have bilateral support, include increased penalties for those who misuse the e-health system and a narrowing of the definition of parental responsibility to protect domestic violence victims from being tracked through their children’s health record.
The promised amendments would also specify that the Australian Digital Health Agency cannot delegate access to patient records to other entities; that health insurers cannot access records; and that employers may not use them to discriminate against workers.
Mr Hunt also promised a review to consider whether it is appropriate that parents have default access to the records of children aged 14 to 17-years-old, after the founder of a free school clinic said it was “too risky” to operate under the My Health Record system.
The Australian Digital Health Agency said the opt-out helpline and website would be operating 24 hours, seven days a week until the deadline had pbaded.
To ensure Australians across all time zones can opt out by the deadline, the cut-off will be 3am AEDT on Friday.
It will still be possible to opt-out after this date, but those who miss the deadline will have to be removed from the My Health Record system at a later date.
The Digital Health Agency has said there will be a one-month lag before medical records are uploaded to the system.
Dana is a federal politics reporter, covering health and industrial relations. Previously, she was a reporter for The Australian.
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