NSW Budget tight for Information and Privacy, looser for digital and data

No big news in the NSW budget for the Information and Privacy Commission with the allocation of funds for 2016-17, $5.46 million, close to the allocation last year. (See 7-35 in the Justice Cluster Budget Estimates.) 

Nothing in there in the narrative or the numbers that might suggest a move after all these years from a part time to full time Privacy Commissioner.

The IPC Service Measures in the budget paper include estimates of the number of reviews and complaints the office will deal with and how many hits are expected on the website but nothing that goes to measures of outcomes and results from all that activity during the year.

Not alone there-its an area where the NSW public sector generally hasn't moved far in a long time.

Over at the Finance Services and Innovation Cluster a lot of money for ITC and digital services, with Minister Dominello highlighting data initiatives:

The NSW Data Analytics Centre (DAC) has received $17 million over four years to continue its work in providing data driven insights to help inform policymaking.
In a world rich with data, the DAC can diagnose the problems confronting many in Government and allow agencies to provide the solutions,” Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said.
Ten data analytics projects have already commenced including analysing the call out rate by NSW Fire and Rescue and the number of false alarms they attend; understanding commuter needs in off-peak hour travel time; identifying buildings at risk from non-compliant cladding; and identifying property overcrowding.
The 2016-17 NSW Budget also includes:

• $418 million to regulate the function of workers compensation insurance, motor accidents compulsory third party insurance and home building compensation
• $241 million in 2016-17 to provide shared corporate support and services to a number of Government agencies, including procurement, ICT, human resources, finance and business services- including via private providers in order to obtain higher service quality at lower cost
• $124 million to enforce fair trading laws, administer licensing regimes, provide community grant assistance, and undertake regulatory reform and offer information and assistance to consumers and traders
• $69 million in 2016-17 to drive whole of government strategies to achieve better value service delivery from ICT across government

And highlighting $2.4 billion in funding "to further expand and improve frontline services, boost job creation, and drive the Government’s innovative digital services agenda, while focusing on more efficient use of public assets."

The service measures for all this in Finance Services and Innovation Estimates (4-5 ) again won't tell you much about targeted outcomes and results.

Former NSW commissioner Ken Taylor was fair and forgiving

The NSW IPC note on the death of former Privacy Commissioner and Acting Information Commmissioner Judge Ken Taylor describes him as "well-respected and fair." 

I can attest to that. 

Despite the fact that I'd had a crack at him about his low profile as privacy commissioner, and his selection as the person to get things established at the new information commission before it opened for business, Judge Taylor and Nigel Waters who undertook the preparatory work subsequently engaged me to make a start on guidance documents on the interpretation and application of the new GIPA act and agency responsibilities.

The judge must have swallowed hard when my name cropped up but in my formal and other contact with him in the course of doing this work (a fair bit of which didn't see the light of day) he had the good grace not to mention or take exception to what I had said previously.

I first encountered Ken Taylor in the nineties when Chief Judge of the District Court Reg Blanch asked me to help develop some performance indicators for the court, to bring his 'planning committee' consisting entirely of judges along with the idea that 'management' mattered and all judges had a responsibility to manage court resources. And if the court didn't develop ideas about managing and measuring performance, others were keen to do it for them.The exercise was close to a first for courts in Australia. 

Reg Blanch loved this stuff. His colleagues didn't. 

With the exception of Ken Taylor who took a real interest and proved a valuable ally to Reg in making these then radical ideas stick.

Vale, and condolences to his family.

This is the citation for Ken Taylor's Member (AM) Order of Australia award in 2012.