'Endless delays': Privacy regulator draws fire in Senate for inaction
The OAIC admitted at a Senate estimates hearing that despite thousands of referrals, it hasn't imposed a single fine on a company for a data breach.
Australia's privacy regulator faced a brief but scathing appearance before Senate estimates on Monday, where it came under fire for its failure to impose a single fine on a company for a data breach.
"Every single part of your office is mired in endless delays," Greens Senator for New South Wales David Shoebridge told privacy chief Angelene Falk, who heads up the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).
Falk refuted the assertion, but gave evidence to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee that over the last two financial years, her office has received 1748 referrals of data breaches that could warrant fines — and imposed none.
The problem, Falk says, is that despite increased powers and funding handed to the OAIC over the last twelve months, "the forensic investigations" the regulator must undertake simply take longer.
