faulker03

Its been quite a week so you're excused if you missed the introduction into the Senate of the Freedom of Information Legislation (Improving Access and Transparency) Bill 2018 by Senator Rex Patrick  (Centre Alliance). The senator is among the few who take a serious interest in transparency and accountability, evident in his time as a staffer to former senator Nick Xenophon, and in his own stead since he replaced Xenophon in November last year. Introduction of the bill took one minute of the senate's time but it won't automatically sink without trace. It has been referred to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 30 November 2018. Thus the opportunity to draw attention and advocate for action from those in government who since the election in 2013 have settled for words if pressed on the subject. While well short of the changes that would be expected if Australia embarked on developing information access laws fit for the 21st

After acting in the positions since March, Angelene (apology for earlier typo) Falk was appointed Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner from 16 August for a three year term.  Congratulations and best wishes. The appointment sees the government continue to hold fast to the decision that one commissioner not three as legislated is sufficient to manage the privacy, freedom of information and government information functions of the OAIC. This despite the rise and rise of privacy issues and concerns, the new regulatory framework under development for data management, the ongoing freedom of information battleground and road blocks, and the disappearance from public view at least of the OAIC contribution to information policy-the most recent publication on the website is four years old and the rest much older. Government also maintains silence- now for 12 months- on a commitment to ensure information access laws and practices are fit for the 21st century. In an in-t

On 24 May, Secretary of the Attorney General's Department Chris Moraitis told Senate Estimates   (Page 51) the appointment of a replacement Australian Information Commissioner was in the process of being finalised: "We are literally checking referees. I'll probably complete that tomorrow.... Once we've finalised the report in the next week or two, we will put a report to the Attorney again....and then government considers that. I think the appointment is an acting arrangement for three months, so we have until around the last week of June to ideally have a new Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Privacy Commissioner and FOI Commissioner. I think there's an option of renewing (the acting appointment) if that's not the case, but that's our timeline. We're working to that, if I may say so, as diligently as we can." Still no news on this in the first week of August. The OAIC has been underfund