5,000 signatures reached
To: Tim Pallas, Victorian Treasurer
Don't Privatise Our Private Info
The security of the records of our most significant, personal moments is under threat. The Victorian Government is considering privatising the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
The publicly owned Registry and the people who work there are the custodians of our precious records. They record every birth, every marriage and every death that occurs in our state and assist with recognition of relationships, name changes and gender affirmation. They are the keepers of our truths.
The Victorian Government is looking for a quick cash injection to repair the Budget and has its sights on commercial interests gaining a stake in Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Our private details and records should not be in private hands, at the mercy of profit-making interests who’ll want a return for their injection of billions of their corporation’s dollars.
Selling all or even part of Births, Deaths and Marriages, which currently returns more than $10 million a year to Victoria, is short-sighted and an abandonment of the principles on which this Government was elected.
The Victorian Government must drop any plans to privatise or commercialise the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Please sign the petition and tell Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas to keep our private records in public hands.
Why is this important?
This affects everyone in Victoria because we all access this service.
The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria has been recording significant life events for Victorians since 1853. The Registry and the people who work there are trusted custodians of our precious records, and there is no reason to change that.
The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria has been recording significant life events for Victorians since 1853. The Registry and the people who work there are trusted custodians of our precious records, and there is no reason to change that.
The Registries of Births, Deaths and Marriages in every Australian State and Territory are all government owned and run as the important work they do is an essential public service.
Privatisation of publicly-owned assets doesn’t work and doesn’t benefit Victorians. Isn’t that why the Victorian Government has reclaimed ownership of the State Electricity Commission (SEC)?
Any further commercialisation of Births, Deaths and Marriages will mean the cost of registering and certifying a life event will increase - that’s what happens when profit is the motive for providing the service.
The security of our personal records is too important to be trusted to one or more corporations. The lack of care taken with our data by the private sector is laid bare with regular reports of data breaches - VicRoads, Optus, and Medibank for example, are all fresh in people’s memories.
We can’t afford for our most private records, like our birth certificates, to be trusted to anyone but the public service.