July

"Mandatory background checks for volunteers and job seekers have surged 66% and delayed security clearances for months, as the system struggles to cope with stronger child-protection laws. The State Government 's screening unit is dealing with up to 1000 applications a day, resulting in delays that are putting people off volunteering for school and sports events and jobs that may include dealing with children or the elderly. Background checks are required as a result of recommendations by the Debelle royal commission into school sex-abuse cases. The Government said an extra $1.3 million will be spent on the screening unit to deal with the ""dramatic increase ' ' in applications."

Procedural oversight of privacy, freedom of information (FOI) and other administrative functions has been overhauled in the Budget with the disbanding of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and the reallocation of its constituent tasks to other government agencies. From 1 January 2015, the OAIC will no longer exist as a unified organisation. Instead, its functions and full-time internal and external staff will be redistributed amongst four other government agencies, with its budget ($10.6m in 2013-14) returned to government coffers. Budget Papers show the move will save the government $3.3m in direct funding this financial year, then approximately $10.4m each year thereafter.

Data protection laws in Australia could soon mirror those in Germany and the UK, according to a new report by European law firm, Fieldfisher. This is significant because the legal regimes in the UK and Germany are quite severe with respect to companies and other organisations holding private data, and such changes would impact the way Australian businesses handle their data. Fieldfisher's white paper examined the legal and regulatory obligations to encrypt personal data in Europe, the U.S., and the Asia Pacific region. It argues that the laws in those regions give rise to a clear need to deploy encryption technologies to protect personal data.