Section 47F
As democratic governments of the world, we are committed to protecting the health of our
populations in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and to upholding our democratic values and the
rights of our citizens.
To this end, we have al put our best minds to building COVID-19 contact tracing apps that augment
existing health processes and give our health officials the best chance to do their jobs well and save
lives.
We have individually developed our digital responses while working within the constraints of the
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functionality offered by the iOS and Android operating systems. At a very difficult time for the world,
everyone is learning how to best manage their responses to the crisis particularly as the
epidemiological knowledge continues to improve. No-one is finding it straightforward: you may also
have experienced these difficulties with the development efforts your companies have undertaken.
We are pleased that Apple and Google have come forward with your own Exposure Notification
Framework to support contact tracing apps. The world needs the genius and capability of your
companies mobilised in the fight against COVID-19.
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We are all keen to work with Apple and Google in a spirit of cooperation. COVID-19 is a shared
challenge, and everyone must mobilise in partnership to tackle it. We need to find a way to enable
the Framework’s technology to be used to save people’s lives, within the contact tracing approaches
put in place by us as sovereign and democratically elected governments. We need to work together
to maximise the technical effectiveness of our contact tracing apps.
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We are concerned that your Framework places conditions on democratic governments that remove
their ability to manage their health response. We ask that you consider allowing more flexibility on
the adoption of the Exposure Notification Framework. This will allow governments to respond in a
manner tailored to the conditions within their own sovereign jurisdictions and in line with their own
domestic laws.
We are agreed in our view that democratically elected governments must determine their own
public health responses to the pandemic. This response may involve the Bluetooth technology that
you are offering in a hybrid model. This model should bring together the best of the Framework and
our own contact tracing models to protect the health and privacy of our citizens. We cannot adopt a
model that would fundamental y change the way we operate our public health responses.
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For example, it is important to all of us that our public health officials have access to epidemiological
information about the spread of the virus to inform our public health responses. The virus keeps
surprising us in real time, and we need this information to stay ahead of this evolving pandemic.
We would like to invite you to discuss with us how we can work together, including the approach
that we need to manage our response to the pandemic, in a closed-door multilateral meeting to be
conducted as soon as possible.
As with all other responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, time is of the essence and we look forward to
your assistance to achieve a quick resolution of this matter.
On behalf of,
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Minister for National Disability Insurance Scheme
Minister for Government Services
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