INTRODUCTION
Australia is on the threshold of a major change in open practice of governmental administration. This will be brought about by the exposure draft legislation published recently by the Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister of State to reform the freedom of information (FOI) and privacy scheme.
A principle element of the reforms was the establishment of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The OAIC is an independent statutory agency, which conducts merits review of FOI decisions made by Commonwealth ministers, departments and agencies; monitors, investigates and reports on compliance with the FOI Act; and promotes awareness and understanding of the FOI Act and its objects.
Supporting these reforms is a broader
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Enacted in Australia nearly 30 years ago, freedom of information legislation, it was envisioned, would usher in a new era of open government. Substantial change occurred – government became much more open – but on one view the FOI Act fell short of its potential,due tomany practical obstacles, such as difficulty in framing an FOI access request, the high cost of making a request, delay by government agencies in handling FOI requests and difficulty in challenging access refusal decisions.
How important is the role of an Information Commissioner to the effective functioning of freedom of information legislation?
Establishment of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
The OAIC was established on 1 November 2010 to oversee the operation of the FOI Act and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and to advance Australian Government information policy. The OAICa body which is independently established under the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010, and brings together,the three functions:
Strategic functions- relating to information management in the Australian government;
FOI functions;
Censorship, defined as the act of destroying, suppressing or withholding information otherwise intended for the public, is detrimental to the community in a number of ways and has no place in a democratic society. Firstly it is detrimental to the progression of social ethics, morals and ideals and limits diversity in society while prolonging ignorance. Secondly it is a breach of freedom of expression, free speech and the free press. It will be demonstrated in this essay that censorship does happen in Australia, that it is not beneficial to society, and that it should be replaced with a system of management where members of the public will always have a choice as to whether or not they can view material intended for the public.
In an effort to further improve the Australian Health Care System, an initiative was formulated in December 2008 in the Australian Health Ministers Conference for a National E-Health Strategy. This aims to formulate consolidated medical information of all Australians with the aim of optimizing the quality and efficiency of health delivery through electronic communications and information technology to ensure the right health info at the right time and place in a manner that privacy is secured. This initiative was highly regarded as a major achievement of the incumbent government upon its complete realization.
The public interest defence was created by the deformation act 2013, to protect defamatory material. The concept of public interest can be a vague term. What one might consider public interest someone else may not? For example, some people believe celebrity gossip is the public interest. The public recognises the term public interest and it is used as a defence for media intrusions of privacy. Everyone has the right to privacy, but sometimes this is not the case. Depending on the person or the organisation this can be invaded depending on the degree of the public interest. In order for something to be in the public interest, the subject has to be of interest for a collective amount of people not just for an individual. The breaches of exposing privacy would be exempt if it was to be to expose crime if an investigator was to breach someone’s privacy but they were exposing crime, which would be of public interest, and then this would be acceptable. Protecting the public health or safety of the public is also an exception, protecting the public from being misled. Also disclosing someone’s failure or likely failure by any obligation they have. In order for these reasons to become except the publication will need to justify why this would
1.Sarah Andrews. Country Reports: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Development. Electronic Privacy Information Center. Washington, DC, US. 146-158. 2002
...e results. I believe that this reform would be rational and helpful to the masses especially if a brand new platform were to be built upon research conducted from the previous policies.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) also regulates the handling of health information held in an individual’s eHealth record. The Privacy Act 1988 The Privacy Act 1988 is an Australian law which regulates the handling of personal information about individuals. This includes the collection, use, storage and disclosure of personal information, in this case information obtained, used, stored by counsellors. The Privacy Amendment Act introduces many significant changes to the Privacy Act. While these changes will not commence until 12 March 2014, Australian Government agencies and businesses should start implementing and preparing now for the changes.
Information Commissioner’s Office (2014) Data protection registration – self assessment. [online] Available at ; http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/registration/self-assessment/1 [Accessed 20-04-14].
On the one hand, constitutions are really necessary in the democratic states where although not perfectly, but to a big extent democratic principles such as equality, liberty, tolerance, the respect of human rights, providing the ability for the citizens to elect the government, etc. are applied. The first reason why having a set of exact rules that are respected by every citizen of the democratic state is that having a constitution maintains order and thus, helps all the citizens to live a peaceful and harmonious life. By maintaining order it is meant that if you as a citizen disobey the rules stated in the constitution, the state has a full right to punish you. For example, if it is stated that the right to live is protected by the law and
The Freedom of Information Act is used mostly to pry open government files. It was designed to help individuals obtain information about the actions of government. The law proclaims that any citizen is to be given access to government records unless the disclosure involves litigation, the CIA, personal m...
A key example of the strength of this country, is in its equality and fairness. Modern Australian law sees that this is achieved, by understanding that it’s founding is based upon the ‘rights' of and 'duties' given to every citizen. Also, by holding three principles: fairness, equality before the law, and justice. A democratic government is something that has been very much normalised to us, but it is vital to remember that this is a privilege. As well as its social advancements, the technology of Australia is as cutting-edge as it gets. This greatly benefits the domestic market for online content and services. The information and communications technology of our country is amongst some of the most advanced and sophisticated across the entire world. Multiculturalism is one of Australia’s most appealing facest, according to the 2011 census a whole 26% of the population was born overseas and four million of the population can speak a language other than English. These are all things to be proud of, things to
According to Alternet Jim Hightower article "8 Terrifying Facts About NSA Surveillance.” In his days as an analyst, Snowden could get into any American’s internet – even the President’s (Hightower). The NSA has access to surveillance systems across the United States. People believe they are using them to spy on activities such as who you are calling, the places you are going, and what you do on the internet. This is not done to invade your privacy, but to protect and serve those in America. The government should be allowed to use surveillance to maintain order because cameras reduce crime rates, better our society, and furnish evidence and congregate indicators.
SAHRC. (2012, February 10). Submission to the D Hoc Committee on Protection of State Information Bill. South Africa: SAHRC.
Individual privacy and confidentiality play a role in both research and clinical health care settings. In each instance, standards and expectations put in place by researchers and health care practitioners to follow to protect patients and research participants while interacting with them. The evolving health care system and convergence of research and treatment protocols to create learning health care systems (LHCS) are creating the need to look at patient confidentiality and privacy differently to protect them and their information.
Unknown Author. An Overview of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Center for Democracy & Technology. Retrieved 26 April 2004.
With the controversy of intrusion of privacy, this has forced various governments to make laws and clarifications of laws in multiple countries. For example,