Cybersecurity Policy Report, Australian Privacy Office Reports on Recent Efforts, (Oct 15, 2020)
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), an independent agency established under the Australian Information Commissioner (AIC) Act of 2010, today released its 2019-2020 annual report addressing data privacy and information access, its work on clearing a backlog of privacy cases, and its four strategic priorities for 2019-2020.
The OAIC ensures that privacy information access rights are upheld through making sure that Australian government agencies and Australian Privacy Principles entities comply with the laws when handling personal information, that the public’s right of access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act are protected, and through "strategic information management functions within the Australian government under the AIC Act."
Notably, the report highlights the OAIC’s performance following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the task force created to provide policy advice in relation to safeguards built into the Australian government’s COVIDSafe app.
In the OAIC press release, Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk said, "The OAIC has continued to deliver on its purpose to uphold and promote privacy and information access rights throughout the pandemic, increasing the number of privacy complaints and Information Commissioner (IC) reviews finalized over the past year."
For the 2019-2020 period, the OAIC report notes that it achieved 16 of 31 performance indicators with partial performance achieved on four indicators. The OAIC did not achieve eight indicators, which it attributed to "increased volumes of work and our systematic efforts to reduce the backlog created by a sustained increase in privacy complaints and IC review applications over recent years." In total, the OAIC finalized 3,366 privacy complaints, opened 19 preliminary inquiries, and received 2,673 privacy complaints and 1,050 notifications under the "notifiable data breaches" scheme.
Commissioner Falk also said, "In operating as a contemporary regulator, our regulatory posture and approach is evidence-based, proportionate, and seeks to respond to community expectations in addressing risk."
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