Mr PYNE —In the 90-second statements today in the House, I would like to raise the question of privacy. Recently in the Adelaide Sunday Mail it was reported that there has been a campaign by Australia Post to increase the amount of information that they have on their clients. In fact, they obtained information on many of their clients which included their name, address, phone number, occupation, holiday habits, alcohol consumption, health and home insurance, monthly bill payments, food shopping, annual income and motor vehicle use.

They obtained this information by communicating with five million households since 1997 through state government literature—for example, motor vehicle registration renewal forms. People are filling out these forms—induced by prizes like BMWs and Internet access—sending them back to Australia Post and Australia Post, through Custom Select, are letting this information out to people who compile lists, take the lists away and then on-sell them to other people for about $1,200 each.

The problem with this is that some of these lists are falling into the hands of practitioners of sharp practice in our society who are duping unsuspecting members of the com munity by convincing them that they are familiar with their circumstances—know who they are and know some of their likes and dislikes—and particularly older people in my electorate—(Time expired)