When the major political parties were spared the tedium of complying with the Privacy Act in 2000, the then-Howard government argued their exemption would enhance political communication and free up the democratic process.

It was a controversial enough view at the time, but it has become almost ludicrously counterproductive in the years since.

None of the parties wanted to talk about what they'd done to improve security since the cyber attack on Parliament's computer network earlier this year. Credit:

Technology in 2019 means malign actors can steal data and then use it to manipulate elections. That includes data on individual voters.

So where precisely is the incentive for voters to engage with their local MPs or parties - thereby enhancing the political process - if they can't be confident the data generated on them through that interaction isn't going to end up in the hands of a hacker, such as a Chinese intelligence agency?