Acting information commissioner gets term extension

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has extended the term of the acting information commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, for another three months amid ongoing uncertainty over the future of the agency.

Pilgrim’s first three-month term expired today. The appointment has now been extended, but it remains an acting position in light of the uncertainty.

The government announced an intention to dissolve the OAIC during the 2014 Budget as part of its smaller government initiative. But legislation to enable this did not pass during the 2014 parliamentary term and has since expired.

This has left the OAIC operating in limbo, unable to effectively fulfil its remits of enforcing the Privacy Act, Freedom of Information Act and Australian Information Commissioner Act.

In New South Wales, meanwhile, the treasury department has embarked on the hunt for a new CIO to replace Ian McGilchrist, who left in the middle of a major overhaul for its budgeting systems.

The listing for the job calls for a candidate with “a keen focus on delivery and execution of business aligned technology solutions” to “play a critical role in collaborating and contributing to the development and implementation of the new Treasury Financial Management Transformation system (Prime)”.

The successful candidate will also help transfer the department’s ICT services to an outsourced service provider.

Image courtesy of neetalparekh under CC