A series of government and parliamentary reports recommended action, and the approach was adopted in the platforms of both major parties. In September 1996, a Discussion Paper was issued by the Attorney-General, indicating the intended shape of the initiative. It therefore appeared that action was imminent. This announcement appears to have been made without consultation with the Cabinet, the Attorney-General or the Privacy Commissioner. It would appear that the Prime Minister was captured by a narrow and uninformed lobby group, most likely the major banks.
Further details follow.
This argument was run by The Australian Financial Review on 27 March.