This week we finally saw the legislation for the national anti-corruption commission, the robodebt royal commission kicked off, and there was much more — including some public consultations of note.
Here are the digital developments from Canberra I’ve noticed since the previous edition on 24 September.
- The National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill 2022 and associated National Anti-Corruption Commission (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2022 were introduced in the House of Representatives and referred to the Joint Select Committee on National Anti-Corruption Commission Legislation. It’s due to report by 10 November.
- The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme began its public hearings this week. This will be very interesting indeed.
- In the wake of the Optus data breach, Karen Andrews introduced a private member’s bill, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Ransomware Action Plan) Bill 2022. “Debate adjourned and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting” which means, on the current sitting calendar, late October.
- The Senate Economics References Committee will conduct an inquiry into the Influence of international digital platforms, including “The nature and extent of international digital platforms operated by large overseas-based multinational technology companies – so called ‘Big Tech’ – exerting power and influence over markets and public debate, to the detriment of Australian democracy and users”.
- Ed Husic, the Minister for Industry and Science, launched a review of the National Science and Research Priorities and the National Science Statement, and released the terms of reference. These documents were last considered in 2015 during the reign of Malcolm Turnbull, so they’re definitely in need of an update!
- The department has also released a consultation paper for the National Electric Vehicle Strategy. There’s one month to comment.
- Treasury released the Statutory Review of the Consumer Data Right.
- The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement has launched an inquiry into Australia’s illicit drug problem: Challenges and opportunities for law enforcement.
- The 2021 Annual and Final Report of the Independent Scientific Committee on Wind Turbines was tabled in the Senate.
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow.
Parliament next sits for Budget Night on 25 October, but I’ll add to this series of posts when there’s a batch of material worth mentioning. I suspect that will be two weeks from now, because there’s some committee action coming up.