Australia is set to have a permanent standalone privacy commissioner once again, as Carly Kind is appointed to the role starting from the end of February 2024.
Carly Kind.
LinkedIn
Angelene Falk, the Australian information commissioner, will continue as privacy commissioner in the interim.
The decision to appoint a separate privacy commissioner reverses the previous government’s choice to merge the role with that of the information commissioner.
In May, Attorney-general Mark Dreyfus announced the splitting of the roles, and today the government confirmed the appointments.
Kind has been the inaugural director of the London-based Ada Lovelace Institute since 2019.
She has also provided consultancy services to various human rights organizations and international bodies such as Unicef, Amnesty International, and the W3C.
In announcing the appointment, Dreyfus stated that Kind has offered advice on legal, ethical, and practical matters at the crossroads of technology and human rights.
Dreyfus’ announcement also highlighted Kind’s expertise in data protection, AI policy, practice and governance, privacy, and technology law and policy.
The government also appointed Elizabeth Tydd as the FOI commissioner for a five-year term.
Tydd is joining the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) from her current position as the information commissioner and CEO of the NSW Information and Privacy Commission since 2013.
