Electoral roll information will be used by the ACT Government to target women over 50 with advice about breast cancer (with the Commonwealth’s permission) and personal invitations to a screening clinic will be sent out this week.
The Minister for Health, Terry Connolly, said the information from the electoral roll would provide an efficient way of contacting the women.
The move could significantly reduce the numbers of undetected cancers among women over 50 in the ACT and region.
The ACT had reached saturation on general advertising and this was a major health issue. Other states would probably follow if this invitation was more successful.
The Opposition spokesman on electoral matter, Gary Humphries, said the Opposition had no objection to the use of the electoral information for the screening campaign but would object if the material posted out contained any politician’s name or picture.
He thought that given the closeness of the February 18 election, it would be inappropriate for taxpayers’ money to be used to publicised government members. He thought the Opposition should be consulted on the detail of the letters going out.
A spokesman for Mr Connolly said neither Mr Connolly’s name nor picture was on the letter. The letter contained details of the regulations under which the electoral information was used.
“”Mr Humphries could have found that out with a simple phone call to this office instead of political posturing,” he said.
General privacy guidelines in Australia say that information provided for one purpose should not be used for a different purpose, unless the law provides a specific exception.
Regulation 10 of the regulations under the Electoral Act provide that electoral roll information (such as names, ages and addresses) can be used for “”the provision of a public health screening program approved by the Secretary to the (federal) Department of Health, Housing, Local Government and Community Services; and conducted in accordance with the Guidelines for the Conduct of Public Health Screening Programs with particular reference to Privacy and the Management of Personal Information”.