Australian Privacy Commissioner named

The role of Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner has been filled by Angelene Falk.

Falk has been appointed for a three-year term effective from 16 August 2018.

She has held senior positions in the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) since 2012. These include Deputy Commissioner since 2016 and Acting Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner since March 2018, leading the OAIC in fulfilling the office’s functions across privacy, freedom of information and government information management.

Falk has extensive experience delivering the functions of independent regulators and a track record of working across Commonwealth and state agencies, business and the community in law, policy and education.

“The commissioner role is critical to helping ensure the privacy of Australians, particularly in the online environment, and I am confident Ms Falk is the appropriate candidate to meet this challenge,” said Christian Porter, Attorney-General of Australia.

Falk has been at the forefront of addressing regulatory challenges and potential uses of data in a global environment and also worked to promote public access to information held by government.

She played a key role across business, community and government agencies on the implementation of the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme under the Privacy Act 1988, which commenced in February 2018.

In 2014 Falk oversaw the OAIC’s significant work and stakeholder engagement on the implementation of the reforms to the Privacy Act that commenced that year.

“I congratulate Ms Falk on her appointment and I look forward to the contribution she will make to the OAIC,” said Porter.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/3dmentat

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