Hon Brooke van Velden
Minister of Internal Affairs

Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Regulatory Systems (Internal Affairs) Amendment Bill, which seeks to improve the efficiency of the Department of Internal Affairs by tidying up legislation that it administers.

“I’m pleased to see the Bill pass its first reading and proceed to select committee, where it will be open for public submissions. One of my priorities for the Internal Affairs portfolio is to improve the efficiency of the Department, and this Bill makes a suite of minor changes to deliver that,” says Brooke van Velden.

The Bill amends 23 Acts, including:

• restricting the sale of all Lotto product to those aged 18 and older
• allowing passports to be cancelled if the data has been compromised
• simplifying the process for enabling organisations to offer the RealMe identity verification service
• giving the Department more powers to prevent the ‘over-donation’ by any individual to fertility clinics
• improving the efficiency of the Classification Office by allowing the Chief and Deputy Chief Censor to delegate responsibilities.

“One of the changes the Bill also makes is strengthening the Department’s ability to share information with international law enforcement agencies to prevent the spread of objectionable content, such as child sex abuse material, online. The Department’s digital safety team work hard to take down this horrific content, and I am pleased to be able to support their efforts through this change.”

The Bill is available here: Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill. It will go to the Governance and Administration committee for six months where the public are encouraged to submit and have their say.

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