Submission to the Data Availability and Transparency Bill 2020 Exposure Draft and Accreditation Framework Discussion Paper
On 05 November 2020 the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia made a submission to the Office of the National Data Commissioner’s Data Availability and Transparency Bill 2020 exposure draft and explanatory materials, and the Accreditation Framework Discussion Paper.
The Academy welcomes the objective of the Bill to improve how Australia shares public sector data to drive service delivery, evidence-based policy, research and innovation. The data sharing scheme, in our view, broadly strikes the right balance between sharing data for the public good and privacy and security protections. If implemented, the reform proposals will make a significant improvement to the quality of research in Australia. This submission builds upon our previous feedback to the Data Sharing and Release: Legislative Reforms Discussion Paper (2019) and outlines the Academy’s comments on the scheme, with a particular focus on the Accreditation Framework.
The Academy suggests more work is needed on certain aspects of the legislation to ensure the data rights and interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples are protected. On 10 December the Academy made a supplementary submission on this topic proposing to co-host a Roundtable to develop solutions on how Indigenous Data Sovereignty might work in practice in Australia.
