Government services minister Stuart Robert said the app would only ask for four things: your name, a range in dates for your age, your postcode and a mobile phone number, but not your location.
“The app does not trace any of your movements, it simply says you were in close proximity with a person who may have been infected to allow state officials to quickly call you and ascertain your health conditions,” he said on ABC’s RN Breakfast.
Mr Roberts said the app would record another person's name and number via Bluetooth if they were within 1.5 m for 15 minutes or longer.
He said the data would stay safely encrypted on the app user's phone.
“If I was confirmed positive, my data goes up to a central data store, only to state health officials, no-one else, and then they could rapidly call anyone I had been in close contact with.”
Shepparton's Advance Computing director Chris Motten said most people already gave permission to apps such as Facebook and Instagram to record and store data from microphones, locations and search history — more data than the proposed app would collect.
“I’m less concerned about the technical merits of the app than the fact most people already give out information willingly without much thought,” he said.
“I’m sure people have all their Facebook settings turned on to allow those types of traceability anyway, so for the vast population, it won’t be anything new,” he said.
“I heard a statistic that 50 per cent of Australians used Pokémon Go which collects information about your location — I’d be very surprised if this app got anywhere near that.”
Previously, the Federal Government said a 40 per cent uptake would be necessary to effectively trace contact with confirmed cases, but Mr Robert said any digital assistance would provide great value.
“Even a one per cent take-up is better than a no per cent take-up. It’s another bit of armory in the storehouse of state health officials to assist us to get back to normal economic life,” he said.
Several politicians, including Barnaby Joyce, who threatened not to download the app, have cited security and privacy concerns about the COVID-19 tracker.
But Federal Member for Nicholls Damian Drum said he had “absolutely zero concerns” about anything to do with it.
“This is a pivotal piece of technology that will help take us out of lockdown restrictions,” he said.
“Greater take-up of the tracking app will give us a far greater capacity to fight future outbreaks.
“I can’t understand why anyone, let alone a member of parliament, would be concerned about people knowing where you are.
“I’ll be downloading it at the first opportunity, and I encourage everybody else to do the same.
“This app will save lives, and if people have very strong privacy concerns, they won’t be mandated to download it.
“I urge people who are dubious about it to put the nation’s interest ahead of your own concerns.”
The app is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
12°C