05:34

The Senate has just passed a Labor motion with crossbench support calling on the government to extend the opt-out period for the My Health Record rollout.



All Australians who have not opted out by 15 November (Thursday) will have a My Health Record automatically created in their name, sparking fears from privacy experts that the public has not had sufficient time to opt out as demand increases.

The motion calls for the the opt-out period to be extended “until the legislation and any amendments are passed, outstanding privacy and security issues are addressed and public confidence in this important reform is restored”.

On 24 October the Australian Digital Health Agency told Senate estimates that 1,147,000 Australians had opted out of My Health Record, a figure that was accurate at 19 October.

On Friday the ADHA and health minister Greg Hunt refused to provide an update on how many Australians have opted out.

Privacy experts have warned that reports of lengthy telephone wait times and a systems crash on the hotline suggest that a high volume of people are opting out in the final weeks before the looming deadline.

Labor’s health spokeswoman, Catherine King, said: