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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 298 asked in the Legislative Council on 17 June 2021 by Hon Colin De Grussa

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

G2G PASS — ACCESS — POLICE INVESTIGATIONS

298. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the minister representing the Minister for Police:

I refer to data retained by the state government and its contractors in relation to the G2G PASS data and applications.

(1) Does the WA government have access to the G2G PASS information for Tasmania, the other state that uses this program?

(2) On how many occasions has information been sought for a purpose other than responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?

(3) On how many individual occasions has information been provided for a purpose other than responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?

(4) On what date did the Minister for Police and/or his office first become aware of the requests from the WA Police Force to access this information?

(5) Please table any advice or correspondence received by the Minister for Police in relation to the release of data to investigative agencies or others?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following information has been provided to me by the Minister for Police.

(1)–(5) The G2G PASS is operated by the Western Australia Police Force, and community members wanting to travel to Western Australia request a G2G PASS and as part of the pass application process, voluntarily provide their details to police. The G2G PASS application page specifies that disclosure to authorities is allowed and does not limit it to authorities with COVID-19-related responsibilities or functions. The G2G PASS application page states that WA Police has to, by law, keep information, even after the completion of quarantine or isolation—and even after deletion of the G2G PASS app from an individual's app. Individuals are required to consent to this. This information is stated publicly on the wa.gov.au G2G PASS FAQ page, in the G2G PASS privacy policy and the G2G PASS terms of service.

The Western Australia Police Force advises that there is no access to the G2G PASS information for Tasmania. Information to WA's G2G PASS has been sought on 14 occasions and provided on 13 occasions. There has been media reporting about the important role border regulation and G2G PASS data have played in intercepting drugs being trafficked into WA. Western Australia's G2G arrangements also reflect those used by the commonwealth government, as administered by the commonwealth law enforcement agency the Australian Border Force for overseas passengers entering Australia. The Australian Border Force publishes information regarding its use of movement records including that information sharing arrangements for law enforcement purposes.