Despite it being the summer silly season, we have government sookage over social media, a total rebuild of Services Australia’s networks, some poor audit reports, and 15 government agencies start using AI without governance frameworks.
COMING SOON: A weekly email newsletter version of these blog posts. Because who even uses blogs these days? I’m planning to have it all in place this time next week.
Meanwhile, here’s what I’ve noticed since the previous edition on 22 December 2023.
- More than 1,000 ‘distressing’ social media posts removed at Australian government’s request during Gaza war, so yeah Canberra is continuing its game of Whac-a-Mole against Bad Things on the internet.
- TikTok’s data collection being scrutinised by Australia’s privacy watchdog.
- “Workplace mandates giving public servants the right to work from home and other locations outside the office have forced giant welfare and service delivery agency Services Australia to rip and replace its legacy phone and data communications network in a deal telco insiders believe could be one of the largest overhauls in Australia,” reports The Mandarin.
- Fresh national approach to navigate digital mental health support.
- Most federal govt agencies adopting AI without a policy, reports InnovationAus ($). “The audit, published last month, reveals 15 of the 27 agencies that adopted AI before July 2023 had not implemented governance frameworks to manage their use of the technology.” That audit? The catchily titled Audits of the Financial Statements of Australian Government Entities for the Period Ended 30 June 2023.
- Also from InnovationAus, Cyber hubs program lacked significant value: Govt evaluation ($).
- There’s quite a few jobs available at the Office of National Intelligence, should that be your thing. In Canberra, obviously.
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow.
Parliament is currently on summer break and is due to return on Tuesday 6 February 2024.
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[Photo: Services Australia chief executive officer David Hazlehurst.]