WA to hire a chief data officer as privacy law passes

Western Australia will hire a chief data officer and create its own scheme for mandatory reporting of notifiable data breaches under new laws passed on Thursday.

The bill was introduced to the state’s parliament back in May.

The government said it would “modernise and strengthen privacy protections” and “enable the safe and secure sharing of information across government and with trusted external entities.”

There are also privacy principles that public sector agencies must implement for handling personal information.

“A chief data officer will be established to lead and develop public sector capability for responsible information sharing,” the government said, adding that the data chief “will promote a culture of transparency, accountability and safe use of government information.”

The reporting of data breaches will apply to "ministers, parliamentary secretaries, public entities or contracted service providers."

Innovation and digital economy minister Stephen Dawson called the laws “an important legislative step to ensure Western Australians' personal information is protected.”

"As the primary custodians of key data sets which have been provided by the community, it’s our responsibility to ensure they are used to make better decisions, deliver seamless public services and drive innovation for public benefit,” he said in a statement.