There weren’t any big-ticket items this week. It’s the calm before next week’s storm of a Budget session of Parliament. That’s why there’s so many reports to read. Next week will also see reforms to the Privacy Act.
Here are the digital developments from Canberra I’ve noticed since the previous edition on 14 October.
- The government announced funding of $10.1 million for Flinders University ‘s Factory of the Future in Adelaide’s Tonsley Innovation District.
- Annual reports were tabled from ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation), Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, and the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, among others.
- Also the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 Annual Report 2021-22, and the Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms Annual Report 2021-22. I’ve only listed a handful of these reports, so you might like to explore the tabled documents database.
- As part of the audit of the much-maligned myGov platform, there’s a myGov user audit survey you might like to complete — although why it’s hosted on a commercial platform with a whole different privacy policy is beyond me.
- At the state level — which would normally be outside the scope of this series — the NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello has said a national inquiry into identity and data sharing is “absolutely necessary†in the wake of the Optus data breach. He’s been banging on about this for a while now, and he wants to make digital identity into his legacy before he retires from politics in March next year, so look out for responses at the federal level.
- And finally, on Friday Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced changes to the Privacy Act to increased fines for data breaches and such, although with the OAIC already lacking funds to conduct investigations will it make any difference?
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow.
Parliament sits Tuesday to Thursday next week, and it’s Budget Night on Tuesday, so the next edition in this series of posts will be quite a big one.
The draft legislation program for the Senate includes the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (AFP Powers and Other Matters) Bill 2022 and the High Speed Rail Authority Bill 2022, among others, but a lot of time will of course be taken up by the Budget.
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