COVIDSAFE HITS 1 MILLION DOWNLOADS

Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced that, within five hours of launching, the new contact tracing app COVIDSafe has been downloaded by 1 million people. The latest Newspoll ($) suggests that a total of 54% of residents are prepared to sign up.

The Health Department released the app, the privacy impact assessment, and their PIA response earlier yesterday. Of course, anyone with a passing familiarity with the anti-encryption laws, robodebt or My Health Record may have a question or two about the app. Hunt has pledged a series of protections:

• Only state and territory health agencies will have access to encrypted contact tracing data, which will be stored in Australia on Amazon servers
• Anyone who accesses the data illegally faces up to five years in jail, according to a new determination made under the Biosecurity Act
• The determination also explicitly prohibits pressuring anyone to download the app
• Data stored on the phone will be deleted automatically after 21 days
• Data stored at the server will be deleted at the user’s request and/or when the pandemic is over
• Authorities will be explicitly barred from accessing data under new legislation to be introduced mid-May.

QUICK QUESTION: As the ABC reports, Hunt promised that “not even a court order” can override protections from authorities, but does that also cover the Assistance and Access Bill 2018? Remember that one? The one that forces tech companies to let cops access encrypted data and not tell anyone about it?

DOCTORS V LAWYERS

A coalition of medical bodies, including the Australian Medical Association, has endorsed the COVIDSafe platform. But an alliance of digital rights groups has outlined a series of requirements for the government to “earn the public’s trust”:

• “publish the source code not only of the app, but for the entire system at the government’s end (both state and federal)
• “provide for independent oversight and mandatory public reporting of all uses of the data
• “by legislation, eliminate the possibility of police and intelligence agencies using their anti-encryption powers, to use the app to access any information on a person’s phone.”

The Law Council of Australia’s President Pauline Wright points to similar concerns, including ambiguities over when the obligation to delete data comes into effect (i.e. when is the pandemic really “over?”)

WA AND QUEENSLAND EASE RESTRICTIONS

Western Australia has announced an easing of restrictions from today; the two-person rule has been lifted, with gatherings of up to 10 people now permitted. This comes as Australia’s curve flattens to a seven-day stretch of below 25 new cases per day — a solid effort considering we averaged well over 300 in the last week of March.

Meanwhile, Queensland will ease stay-at-home restrictions from Saturday and allow residents within 50km of their house with either members of their household or one friend. While still requiring social distancing and hygiene practices, Queensland will also reopen some national parks.

Finally, The NT News ($) reports that Chief Minister Michael Gunner could release a roadmap today detailing a plan to reopen businesses by the end of May. The NT hasn’t reported a new case for three weeks.

DANDREWS’ LOCKDOWN HERE TO STAY: Sorry, Victoria, but The Age reports that Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has reiterated that you’re in the state of emergency until at least May 11.

STATE WRAP

In another bloody bumper weekend for state relief packages:

• NSW announced a $395 million stimulus package yesterday for low-cost loans for local governments, council retention schemes, and levy payment
• Victoria announced a $16.8 million creative industries survival package targeting arts organisations, creatives and micro-organisations with at least five years of professional experience
• Queensland announced a $54.5 million transport package on Saturday targeting regional air, bus and ferry services, as well as the personalised transport industry (taxis), heavy vehicles and licence and registration fees.

WORKERS, IT WAS NICE WHILE IT LASTED

Finally, as Australia braces for business to eventually open back up, The Age reports that Liberal backbenchers Andrew Bragg and Jason Falinski have urged the government to not let its brief partnership with unions let it lose track of its union-busting bill.

Along the same lines, The Australian ($) reports that Ernst & Young modelling, commissioned by the Business Council of Australia (BCA), found that the economic cost of shutdowns hit $200 billion in the first month. The modelling suggests this will rise to $280 billion after three months and, if the lockdown extends for six months, it would reach $400 billion.

BCA SURPRISES NO ONE: You will never guess what’s in BCA’s “preliminary reform blueprint to kickstart the economic recovery” (spoiler: it’s tax cuts, award “simplification” and slashing red tape).