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Thursday, June 22, 2017

After 18 years,NSW to get a full time Privacy Commissioner


Attorney General Mark Speakman has announced the proposed appointment of Samantha Gavel as NSW Privacy Commissioner. The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Ombudsman, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission and the Crime Commission gets  to confirm the appointment... or otherwise.

And the good news, many years late, is that the government will make the position full time. 

The Commissioner has  been part-time since the first appointment in 1999  and for long periods there was an Acting Commissioner, including 2003-07 and 2009-2011. 

“Ms Gavel is a leader in privacy protection who is currently the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner, and was previously the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman for six years,” Mr Speakman said in a Media release 

Paris Cowan in IT News in February recounted how privacy regulation everywhere around the country is under resourced.

Budgeted expenditure for the Information and Privacy Commission in 2017-18 is $5.6 million, a 1.3% reduction. 

Looks like expenditure on a full time commissioner will involve a snip elsewhere.

Thanks for managing a tough assignment to departing Privacy Commissioner Dr Elizabeth Coombs. 

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