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The Commission is conducting a review of the Privacy Act 1993. In the course of this review it has studied the subject of information sharing by government agencies. It has been asked by the Minister to present its findings on this subject ahead of the report on the Privacy Act.
The Commission favours facilitation of information sharing between agencies, but only if there are proper checks and balances, and if risks to individual privacy are minimised. It proposes a regime whereby sharing programmes would go through a process of approval by Order in Council, after consultation with appropriate bodies, including the Privacy Commissioner. Approved programmes would be listed in a schedule to the Privacy Act. The Act would lay down the criteria for approving the programmes, and contain requirements of transparency and accountability.
