Union boss applauds NSW anti-surveillance bill - News - Security

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Union boss applauds NSW anti-surveillance bill

By AAP
May 04, 2005
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Union-boss-applauds-NSW-anti-surveillance-bill/0,130061744,139190490,00.htm

The NSW government should be congratulated for its initiative to criminalise "big brother" behaviour by bosses, a major union said today.

Australian Workers Union (AWU) secretary Bill Shorten said employees had a right to privacy in their workplaces.

"The e-mail is the modern version of the telephone and I think that most employees would reasonably say that their phones shouldn't be tapped at work automatically and I think that should apply to the Internet," Shorten told the Channel Nine television network.

"I think the NSW government is reasonably trying to strike a balance between the rights of the employee and the rights of the employer."

NSW will be the first Australian state to outlaw unauthorised spying in the workplace -- using technologies including video cameras, e-mail and tracking devices -- under laws introduced into parliament today.

The Workplace Surveillance Bill would make it a criminal offence to take part in any form of covert surveillance unless an employer can prove they had reasonable suspicion of wrong doing by an employee.

Shorten said workers should be able to expect some level of privacy in their workplace and an allowance for some personal activities.

"We've got new technology, we've got a very public fascination with spying on people ... [and] at the same time in our general community, there's surveillance cameras everywhere on our streets, on our roads," he said.

"I'm not sure that we'd say that the Prime Minister [John Howard couldn't receive an email from [his wife] Janette Howard.

"I don't believe it's inappropriate for the CEOs of large banks to take a phone call from their spouse."

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