Recently the Australian Government announced the development of an app that will track user interactions to stop the spread of COVID-19. Many things need to still be determined about how this app will work but before that, Australia’s Privacy Act must be updated. To prevent data breaches or mistakes, the government must update its Privacy Act if it wants all Australians to put their trust into an app like this. There are many ways of how the government can track our movements and interactions but they all through the use of highly personal information. So how can we trust an App made by the government if we don’t update our Privacy act to better protect the people.

Dr Katharine Kemp from the University of New South Wales Sydney joined us to discuss privacy concerns and what needs to be done to alleviate them.