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Privacy has been on everyone’s mind this May – we started the month by calling on the community, businesses and government to make privacy a priority in our biggest Privacy Awareness Week to date.
Likewise, access to information has been at the forefront in May for Information Awareness Month (IAM) and Open Gov Week. For IAM, the OAIC and other organisations come together to promote best practice information handling, while Open Gov Week led by the by Open Government Partnership focused globally on building and renewing governments, institutions and societies that are transparent, accountable, participatory and inclusive.
In May we also welcomed the announcement of additional funding for privacy and access to information functions as part of the 2021-22 Federal Budget. It provides additional funding to support the expansion of the Consumer Data Right, replaces funding from a previous Memorandum of Understanding on the My Health Record, and allocates funding to assist with freedom of information (FOI) functions within the OAIC, including the appointment of an FOI Commissioner.
This announcement follows a significant increase in applications for Information Commissioner (IC) review of FOI decisions by agencies and ministers over recent years. The number of IC review applications received by the OAIC increased by 109% between 2015-16 and 2019-20. Over the same period, we increased the number of reviews finalised by 83%, through implementing a range of case management and efficiency measures. The additional resources allocated to our FOI functions will assist the OAIC’s work to uphold Australians’ right of access to government documents. I look forward to welcoming our new FOI Commissioner when this statutory appointment is made later this year.
This month, I spoke at a range of events including the Australian Government Solicitor FOI and Privacy Forum 2021 and reflected on the transformation we have all seen in where and how our personal data is used as privacy has shifted from a primarily analogue to a digital footing – a change that has accelerated over the past 18 months.
The vast amounts of personal information now stored and shared across the globe and the countless ways our information is handled by governments and private sector business, for innovation, research, service delivery and daily life, makes data privacy a critical priority.
Today, with the review of the Privacy Act by the Attorney General’s Department underway, Australia has an opportunity to develop a more contemporary system of privacy regulation. The OAIC’s regulatory experience informs our recommendations for a system that assists Australia in the global digital economy, respects our fundamental human right of privacy, and encourages entities to build in the privacy fundamentals from the ground up. While remaining technologically neutral and flexible to suit entities’ different circumstances, the law also needs to be able to deal with emerging challenges, and those we cannot foresee today.
You can read my full speech on where we see the future of privacy regulation on our website. And if you haven’t already, you can watch my “in conversation” with Elizabeth Denham CBE, UK Information Commissioner and Global Privacy Assembly chair, as we discuss the future of privacy and data protection in the 'decade of data', including the role of regulation and privacy professionals.
Thank you to all the organisations who supported Privacy Awareness Week 2021 for your commitment to promoting good privacy practice and for helping make this year’s PAW campaign such a success.
Angelene Falk
Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner
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