OIC ‘pleased’ with council’s progress following RTI audit recommendations

After an audit in 2018, the OIC made 12 recommendations to Bundaberg Regional Council. Read about what they’ve done since.

A compliance report on Bundaberg Regional Council from the OIC was tabled in state parliament this week.

Queensland’s Office of the Information Commissioner tabled a follow-up audit report of Bundaberg Regional Council in parliament this week.

The report presented the changes council made in implementing 12 recommendations for improving compliance with the Right to Information Act 2009 (Qld) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld).

In the original audit, which was done in 2018, OIC made 12 recommendations.

Bundaberg Regional Council has fully or technically implemented 10 recommendations and were still implementing two of the recommendations.

Information Commissioner Rachael Rangihaeata said she was pleased with the progress made.

“I am pleased that the council has implemented most of our recommendations to improve right to information and privacy practices, and is progressing the remainder,” she said.

KEY FINDINGS

Bundaberg Regional Council has:

• Developed an information governance framework and assigned responsibility for driving right to information and privacy outcomes.
• Introduced a network of information management champions and regular refresher training in right to information and privacy to raise staff awareness and improve practices.
• Tailored collection notices so that individuals can understand why Council is collecting the personal information, how it will use it and whether it will share it with another entity.
• Improved how it operates and manages its surveillance cameras, particularly in its partnership with the Queensland Police Service.
• Promoted the existing administrative access arrangements, and established a system for maintaining the accuracy and currency of the publication scheme.

Council is progressing the implementation of:

• Improved performance measures to monitor progress in achieving the broader objectives of the Acts.
• An information asset register to support better right to information practices.