Government names reinstated privacy commissioner

Australia will soon have a permanent standalone privacy commissioner again, with Carly Kind to take up the role from the end of February 2024.

Carly Kind.
LinkedIn

Angelene Falk, the Australian information commissioner, will continue as privacy commissioner in the interim.

The appointment of a separate privacy commissioner reverses a decision of the previous government to integrate the role with that of information commissioner.

Attorney-general Mark Dreyfus announced in May that the roles would be split, and today the government announced the appointments.

Kind is inaugural director of the London-based Ada Lovelace Institute, a role she has held since 2019.

She has also consulted to a number of human rights organisations and international organisations, including Unicef, Amnesty International, and the W3C.

Announcing the appointment, Dreyfus said Kind has “provided advice on legal, ethical and practical issues at the intersection of technology and human rights.”

Dreyfus’ announcement noted Kind’s expertise includes data protection; AI policy, practice and governance; privacy; and technology law and policy.

The government also announced the appointment of Elizabeth Tydd as FOI commissioner for five years.

Tydd will join the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) from the NSW Information and Privacy Commission, where she has been information commissioner and CEO since 2013.