New privacy commissioner to ensure personal data protection
The federal government has announced a new commissioner as it seeks to improve privacy laws following devastating data breaches.
NewsWire
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A standalone privacy commissioner will be appointed to deal with the growing threats to data security to protect the personal information of millions of Australians.
Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the privacy regulator will have the resources and powers to meet the ongoing challenges of the digital age.
“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,” he said.
Mr Dreyfus said the former coalition government had failed to update privacy laws and had scrapped the position of a standalone Privacy Commissioner.
He said the Albanese government has already acted to significantly increase penalties for companies that fail to take adequate care of customer data and has given the Australian Information Commissioner improved and new powers.
Mr Dreyfus ordered a complete review of the Privacy Act last year after declaring it was no longer “fit for purpose”.
The Privacy Act review put 116 proposals to the government, including allowing victims of future data breaches to sue for compensation.
That’s in addition to the snap legislation introduced last year, in the wake of the Optus and Medibank hacks, which ramped up penalties for companies that failed to protect data from being stolen – increasing fines from $2m to $50m.
The decision to appoint the standalone Privacy Commissioner restores the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to the three-Commissioner model originally intended.
The Australian Information Commissioner Angelene Falk holds a dual appointment as the Privacy Commissioner.
She will remain Information Commissioner and head of the OAIC, and a merit-based selection process to fill the role of Privacy Commissioner will start immediately.
Originally published as New privacy commissioner to ensure personal data protection
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