Parliament was back this week The action included a major report on foreign interference through social media, activity at the PJCIS, digital ID for goats and sheep, a bribery scandal at Home Affairs, and more fallout from the robodebt scandal.
Here’s what I’ve noticed since the previous edition on 28 July.
- Former ASIO chief Dennis Richardson has been appointed to investigate the Home Affairs bribery allegations, a scandal at least somewhat adjacent to opposition leader Peter Dutton.
- The government has release a Draft National AI In Schools Framework. The deadline for submissions is very short: they close on 16 August.
- Two headlines from The Mandarin capture the flavour of the robodebt fallout. Services Australia in ombud hotseat over unlawful income apportionment, and New robodebt reviewer called into APSC to clean out tarred public servants.
- Or if you prefer the Guardian, Up to 100,000 Centrelink debts or potential debts miscalculated over two decades, ombudsman finds, and Robodebt: 16 bureaucrats named in royal commission report face investigation by public service agency.
- Scott Morrison a ‘bottomless well of self-pity’ with no ‘mercy’ for robodebt’s real victims, Bill Shorten says.
- The Senate Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media has tabled its final report.
- Finance department hires consultant to advise on hiring consultants in move compared to ABC’s Utopia.
- If you’re a games developer you might want to check out the Income Tax Assessment (Digital Games Tax Offset) Rules 2023.
- The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) has launched a review of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Amendment Rules 2023. Submissions close next Friday 11 August.
- The PJCIS is also conducting a review of the Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2023. Submissions close 31 August.
- And we have a government response to the PJCIS review of the National Security Legislation Amendment (Comprehensive Review and Other Measures No. 2) Bill 2023.
- Senator David Pocock introduced the Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Pay for Radio Play) Bill 2023. This will “amend the Copyright Act 1968 to remove provisions that prevent radio broadcasters from paying more than one per cent of their gross earnings in licence fees for the broadcast of sound recordings.” It would also remove the cap on the amount the ABC has to pay in music royalties.
- And finally, Australian goats, sheep to get national digital identity system before citizens.
Also, given this was the first week of parliament in the new financial year, there’s literally hundreds of tabled document on all manner of topics.
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow. Parliament is back again next week.
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[Photo: Opposition leader and former Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton.]