The Director of State Records in the Privacy Committee of South Australia has joined forces with privacy authorities from across the country to highlight privacy as the foundation of trust between Government Agencies, the community and business.
As part of the launch for last week’s 2022 Privacy Awareness Week campaign (2-8 May), the Director, Simon Froude signed a joint statement with Australian Information and Privacy Commissioners and Ombudsmen calling on Agencies to ensure their privacy policies continued to evolve in response to changing environments and expectations.
Mr Froude said that as the digital economy continued to grow, services went online and organisations considered new ways of handling personal information, “there is the opportunity to build on the fundamental role that good privacy practices play in making these initiatives a success”.
“That trust requires privacy as the foundation,” Mr Froude said.
“One of our key messages is that better privacy protections are not just a tool to prevent harms, but also an enabler of better services and stronger relationships between the community, business and Government Agencies.
“The public expects organisations to handle their information responsibly and be transparent and accountable.”
Mr Froude said organisations were more likely to be trusted with information when they had demonstrated good privacy practices.
“While the 2022 awareness campaign highlights the importance of getting the foundations of privacy right, it is essential that an organisation’s privacy platform is not set in stone, but continually evolving and being upgraded to respond to economic and technological innovation and community expectations,” he said.
The Statement was signed by members of Privacy Authorities Australia (PAA), including Mr Froude; the Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk; Victorian Information Commissioner, Sven Bluemmel; Queensland Privacy Commissioner, Paxton Booth; NSW Privacy Commissioner, Samantha Gavel; Queensland Information Commissioner, Rachael Rangihaeata; Tasmanian Ombudsman, Richard Connock; and Northern Territory Information Commissioner, Peter Shoyer.
The Statement and further information on Privacy Awareness Week can be accessed on the State Records website at this PS News link.
