Digital developments from Canberra 18

Parliament did come back for a day but that was about energy prices. That said, we saw action on robots, navy drones, digital wallets, and the US CLOUD Act. Oh yeah, and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was abolished.

Here are the digital developments from Canberra I’ve noticed since the previous edition on 9 December.

  • The government will abolish the Administrative Appears Tribunal, saying it has become “fatally compromised”.
  • The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has released its report on the wonderfully titled Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America on Access to Electronic Data for the Purpose of Countering Serious Crime, which is about aligning our electronic surveillance laws with the US CLOUD Act. There’s only one recommendation, namely that the agreement should go ahead.
  • “Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic has appointed a National Robotics Strategy Advisory Committee to help guide Australia’s strategy for emerging automation technologies.”
  • “Australia’s central bank could be given new powers to regulate digital wallets like Apple Pay… [and] federal government has also proposed a framework for the licensing and regulation of crypto service providers as soon as next year,” reports InnovationAus. Here’s the consultation paper. Submissions close 6 February 2023.
  • We have Audit report no. 9 of 2022-23 on the Management of cyber security supply chain risks: Australian Federal Police; Australian Taxation Office; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
  • We also have the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) Annual Report 2021-22.
  • “Navy stealth robosub ‘Ghost Shark’ released into Sydney Harbour,” reports The Mandarin.

Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow.

Parliament is scheduled (PDF) to return on Monday 6 February 2023, but I’ll post one of these summaries next Friday to wrap up the year.

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[Photo: Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC.]