![Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison is visiting England and Germany.](/content/dam/images/g/t/y/2/w/g/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gtz29h.png/1485738408266.jpg)
Treasurer Scott Morrison has endorsed "robo-advisers" offering cheap automated superannuation advice as the next step in Australia's financial industry, and urged consumers to overcome their privacy fears about business and governments sharing personal data.
As the Turnbull government continues to battle controversy over Centrelink's "robo-debt" letters, Mr Morrison has been spruiking to his international counterparts the commercial and economic opportunities of automated services and sharing consumers' data.
"One of the prime examples is robo-advice, which has the potential to offer financial advice to a wider cross‑section of the community," Mr Morrison told at a G20 conference in Germany. "In Australia, businesses are beginning to integrate robo-advice into the retirement savings system to help people engage and prepare more fully for retirement."
Mr Morrison plans to encourage more robo-adviser start-ups in Australia by giving them greater scope to test their services in the market without facing the costs of regulatory licensing.
The government is considering major changes to Australia's 500 privacy and secrecy laws which could allow businesses and government to capitalise on the "enormous untapped potential of Australia's data" by giving customers more control over their personal information and giving greater access to "anonymous government-held data".
His government was "keenly aware" of the financial opportunities of data-sharing, Mr Morrison said in his clearest response to date to the Productivity Commission's proposed liberation of government and consumer data.
The Productivity Commission, which will deliver its final recommendations to government in March, has been inundated with feedback from businesses, agencies and individuals about the future use of consumers' data, receiving almost 350 formal submissions to its inquiry.
Mr Morrison said while concerns about consumers' privacy were "understandable", it was important that "new technologies do not become a victim of fear".
"Yes, there are undeniable risks in enabling data to become more widely available. But the risk of harm needs to be assessed based on the likelihood and the scale of potential damage," he said.
"After that happens, risk assessment and mitigation processes should be put in place for the release and sharing of data, as well as collection and storage."
It has been five months since the Australian Securities and Investment Commission released its formal regulation on digital advice and already six robo-adviser businesses have entered the market, with expectations the number will more than double by the end of 2017.
However, the market regulator warns consumers that while robo-advice can be a cheaper option, it does not take into account a person's goals and objectives or let the customer ask questions about the advice. Robo-advice is automated financial advice based on algorithms generated from information provided by the consumer instead of human financial advisers.
"The government is continuing to monitor the rules supporting new and innovative FinTech providers, such as robo-advisers, and the Treasurer has flagged an intention to develop an extended legislative regulatory Sandbox to provide further support in allowing such businesses to get up and running," a spokesman for Mr Morrison said.
In Australia, robo-advisers do not have access to government-held individuals' data like Centrelink payments so do not take into account the impact of investment decisions on tax planning or Centrelink payments.
Local robo-advisers include Stockspot, Ignition Direct, Quietgrowth, Acorns, SixPark and Clover, according to sharemarket trading website EFT Watch.
Productivity Commissioner Peter Harris has recommended in the commission's draft report that consumers be given the right to view and edit the information held on them by companies, as well as opt out of data collection and third-party access.
But any moves by the Turnbull government to ease the restrictions on consumers' information held by companies or government is bound to trigger opposition from several corners.
Some of Australia's largest companies, including National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking Group, Telstra, Google and Uber, say forcing them to release commercially sensitive customer information to competitors would have a chilling impact on their market power.
The Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection, David Watts, warned the commission that great care must be taken to balance privacy rights against the collective and commercial benefits, and more work was needed on the "de-identification" of data.
Anna Johnston, former NSW deputy privacy commissioner, said the federal government currently has two privacy-related bills before Parliament but neither provide remedies for victims of privacy invasions.
"If you want to promote greater data-sharing, you will need to convince the public that their privacy is going to be protected – or that if all else fails, they will be compensated for any significant harm that they suffer," she said.
"In my view, that means that the government should take greater steps to offer remedies for people who suffer serious privacy harm, in parallel with any steps to increase the level of risk posed to individuals from greater data-sharing."