Opposition senator Karina Goodridge has called for stricter penalties for the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information under the Beneficial Ownership Transparency and Register Act, warning that the current sanctions are too weak to act as an effective deterrent.

She argued that the sanctions fall well short of those already established in the Data Protection Act.

In Wednesday’s debate in the legislature, she questioned why sensitive personal information held under the new legislation would attract a maximum fine of $40 000 or one year’s imprisonment for unauthorised disclosure, compared with penalties of up to $500 000 and three years’ imprisonment under the Data Protection Act.