Promoting and protecting the data, insights and research industry
PRIVACY ACT REFORM - FINAL REPORT
ADIA ACADEMY - FREE PRIVACY MODULES
LEADERS FORUM - REGISTER NOW & SAVE
Strong privacy laws are essential to Australians' trust and confidence in the digital economy and digital services provided by governments and industry.
However, the Privacy Act has not kept pace with the changes in the digital world. The large-scale data breaches of 2022 were distressing for millions of Australians, with sensitive personal information being exposed to the risk of identity fraud and scams.
The Hon. Mark Dreyfus KC MP
Attorney-General, Commonwealth of Australia
On 16 February, the Attorney-General, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus, KC MP (above), released the final report of the Attorney-General's Department's Privacy Act Review. The proposed reforms are in addition to the changes introduced in December 2022, which saw increased penalties for a data privacy breach.
KEY AREAS FOR REFORM INCLUDE:
- Entities should ensure their information handling practices are fair and not harmful, and there should be greater protections for personal information before it's used in "high privacy risk" ways.
- Current exemptions from the Act (e.g. employee records, small business) "require recalibration" to address privacy risks and meet evolving community expectations.
- Enforcement options need to be strengthened, including for individuals to act when their privacy is breached. The Notifiable Data Breaches scheme should be strengthened in line with other mandatory reporting schemes.
CALL FOR FEEDBACK
ADIA's Privacy Compliance Committee (PCC) has been engaged in the Review and will respond to the final report (which includes 116 recommendations).
Should any members wish to contribute to ADIA's industry response or comment on recommendations in the final report, please don't hesitate to contact sarah@dataandinsights.com.au. The deadline for providing feedback to ADIA is Friday, 17 March 2023. A copy of ADIA's earlier submission is available here.
The deadline for submission to the government is 31 March 2023.
FREE PRIVACY MODULES - SPECIAL OFFER EXTENDED UNTIL MARCH 31 2023
In recognition of the recent and ongoing changes to the Australian Privacy Act, ADIA is pleased to offer members an exclusive, one-month extension of FREE ACCESS to three Privacy training modules available via the ADIA Academy (usually priced at $99 per person).
They include the following:
- Privacy and APP 101 Induction
- Privacy and Data Security
- Risk Management and Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA).
