faulker03

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 ...

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...

The appropriation for the Office of Australian Information Commissioner in the 2017-18 Budget is $10.368 million, down from $10.618 million . ( A n 'efficiency dividend' counts fo r a reduction of $160,000.) Total funds available in 2017-18 (counting funding available from previous years and other revenue): $19.345 million compared to $19.045 million in 2016-17.  The average staffing level, 75 is unchanged. In the three 'out y ears' appropriations drop to $10.265 million, $8.999 million and $9.042 million. For outcomes measurement purposes t he office functions are lumped together in  a single o utcome in the Portfolio Budget Statement with budgeted expenses at $14.4 million ($14.988 million in the current year) for "Provision of public access to Commonwealth Government information, protection of individuals’ personal information, and performance of information commissioner, freedom of information and privacy functions." The office has extra re...

From Senate Estimates (pdf) questioning of Attorney General Senator Brandis and Australian Information Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim (pp 63-67) on Tuesday: Cease fire at last : Attorney General Brandis no longer thinks, as he did until M ay this year at least , that abolishing the OAIC would be a " good economy measure. " I n response to questions about the change of mind he said " I am not going to comment on decisions in previous financial years that have  been reversed. I do not think that is germane.... A policy was made in a previous financial year, essentially for reasons of economy. That decision was revisited more recently and reversed, and I am glad that it was, and I am really delighted that Mr Pilgrim's position has been regularised." ( Comment: Welcome news. But no questions or statements about the damage inflicted by two years of siege that followed the announcement of May 2014 that the government intended to abolish the office.) No intention of...

 The Mandarin (subscription) Last Thursday, Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed once again that the current government sees little value in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which oversees both freedom of information and privacy. In announcing Timothy Pilgrim’s re-appointment as privacy commissioner, Brandis confirmed Pilgrim is now also the permanent Information Commissioner, a role he has acted in since July 2015. The announcement confirms the current government has no intention to appoint two separate commissioners, as the office was originally intended to have. Brandis gave no indication he intends to appoint anyone as FOI Commissioner, leaving the third post in the OAIC still vacant for the time being.... On a related topic, The Mandarin reports University of Melbourne data and privacy researcher Dr Suelette Dreyfus...sees an inconsistency in the attitudes of politicians and public servants to privacy in different contexts. In FOI releases, public s...

The Canberra Times Public Eye reflects on how the public is the loser from government saves of $700k by appointing one commissioner instead of three to the Office of Australian Information Commissioner: Long-time privacy watchdog Timothy Pilgrim was appointed Information Commissioner last week , a role he'd acted in for more than a year. He certainly deserves the honour. However, he doesn't deserve the government's treatment of him and his office. Pilgrim has been left to fill three statutory roles for the price of one: Information Commissioner, Privacy Commissioner and (acting) FOI Commissioner. This is despite the relevant legislation clearly intending that the jobs be held by different people. The good news is that Pilgrim is saving us money. The three officers' salary packages total $1,175,050, while Pilgrim receives just $443,910. That's a $731,140 gift to taxpayers. (Thanks, Tim!) The bad news is that, whatever Pilgrim's abilities, none of his roles will...

The announcement last week by Attorney General George Brandis of the appointment of Timothy Pilgrim as Australian Information Commissioner and the renewal of his appointment as Privacy Commissioner brings a degree of certainty to the operations of the Office of Australian Information Commissioner after the wrecking ball launched in May 2014 when the Attorney General announced the office was to be abolished. While the return to certainty is welcome, and Timothy Pilgrim is a fine public servant the appointment is far from sufficient to re-establish the o ffice on the fully operational, fully funded, firm footing required after the battering of the last two and a half years. The announcement makes no mention of the Freedom of Information Commissioner post. The OAIC website says "Mr Pilgrim will carry out functions and exercise relevant Commissioner powers under the Privacy Act 1988 , Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 ."  Who ...

Attorney General Senator Brandis led the unsuccessful two year battle to abolish the Office of Australian Information Commissioner that ended in May 2016 when the government announced it would not proceed, finally recognising the weight of numbers in the Senate that favoured an independent watchdog to keep an eye on information access practices.   Now reappointed, the Attorney General according to ZDnet will appoint Timothy Pilgrim for the fifth time as Acting Australian Information Commissioner next week   The office operated from January to June 2015 with two of the three commissioner positions parliament established when it created the office, and since that time with one.   Senator Brandis told Senate Estimates (Q&A pp 42-44) in May this year the decision in  2014 to abolish the office was a 'good economy measure-and we haven't changed our mind."   Following the election, numbers of those in the Senate who have a different view than the Attorney Gener...

The article below appears in "Criminalising The Truth Suppressing the Right to Know: The Report into the State of Press Freedom in Australia in 2016 " (pdf p39) published on Friday by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. An update of course is the government's decision announced in the Budget this week that it will not proceed with legislation to abolish the Office of Australian Information Commissioner. There is plenty more of interest in the report-commend it to you!! Little Intent behind the Promise On the transparent, open and accountable government, front, it’s that familiar story six months into the Turnbull era. Hope and disappointment.  On his first day in office hopes were raised when Prime Minister Turnbull said  we " need an open government, an open government that recognises that there is an enormous sum of wisdom both within our colleagues in this building and, of course, further afield. The statement reminded of the Liberal Party promise be...