Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:26): My adjournment debate matter is for the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. The law enforcement assistance program is the database used by Victoria Police to record information about all reported criminal incidents. The database therefore contains a considerable amount of private information on Victorians, which is accessible to various divisions of our brave and diligent police force. It is obviously integral to the operation and efficacy of our police force that they have a database to collect information on matters reported to them. However, I have grave concerns over revelations that I have been made aware of that every licensed firearms holder has had a file created on the database. This appears to be irrespective of whether they have been involved in a criminal incident, as is the purpose of the database. This apparently even includes members of Parliament, both state and federal, as well as under-age junior firearms licence holders.

The minister must assure the Victorian community that this is in fact not the case and that personal information is not being recorded merely on the basis that someone is a licensed firearms holder. Having a firearms licence is not a crime, I suggest to the minister, and in fact the vast majority of licence-holders are law-abiding citizens who participate in legitimate recreational activities or use firearms for important agricultural purposes. Given the law enforcement assistance program database is widely accessible to Victoria Police officers, it is a significant invasion of privacy for such information to be collected and recorded about individuals who otherwise would have had no interaction with the database. I call on the minister, and the action I seek is for her to clarify these matters and reveal the extent and frequency with which the law enforcement assistance program is audited.