The Insurance Council of Australia says it still has concerns about the Privacy Amendment Bill 2013.

Key issues it raised previously have not been sufficiently addressed, CEO Rob Whelan argues in a submission to a parliamentary committee.

“Insurance council members take their privacy obligations very seriously and collect, use and disclose a significant amount of personal and sensitive information in the course of providing quotes, issuing policies and paying insurance claims,” he wrote.

It is difficult to comment conclusively on the bill when general publication conditions are unknown, Mr Whelan says.

“Such conditions will be critical to a proper consideration of the impact… because they trigger the proposals to publish a copy of a breach statement on an entity’s website and in each state in at least one newspaper.”