Telecommunications, Media And Technology (TMT) Law Update – Volume 37

New Federal data-sharing Bill introduced into Federal Parliament.

The Federal Government recently introduced the Data Availability and Transparency Bill 2020 (Cth), which, if enacted, will authorise and regulate controlled access (as opposed to open release to the public) to Australian Government data using a flexible principles-based approach to data sharing. The Bill provides for a National Data Commissioner to be established, which will be responsible for overseeing the proposed scheme. The purpose of the scheme will be to make Australian Government data more accessible to improve service delivery and government policies, as well as supporting R&D. The Bill follows the Australian Government's 2018 commitment to reform how it shares public sector data. Participants in the scheme will be known as "data scheme entities" and will comprise data custodians (the Commonwealth bodies that control the data and have the right to deal with it), accredited users