Integrity Systems and Local Government

Australia's third sphere of government is local government, consisting of about 675 councils nationally, responsible for an average of 6 percent of total public sector expenditure (around $18 billion) annually. This article reviews key integrity issues confronting local government, based on experience in NSW and Queensland. Current issues confirm integrity to be a significant concern manifesting in a large variety of forms, both in council administration and in local government politics. A new generation of responses are increasingly tailored to recognising local government as a permanent, elected sphere of government, accounting directly to the public, while, supported by state regulators, individual councils also pursue better practice in the management of their own administrations.     

Offshore IT Outsourcing and the 8th Data Protection Principle - legal and regulatory requirements - with reference to Financial Services

In the global sourcing world, particularly in financial services,offshore outsourcing and associated data transfers are commonplaceand increasing, searching out lower cost third countries, whichmay have even fewer data protections. In such an environment,the1998 Data Protection Act’s 8^th Principle and associated7^th Principle security provisions become critical protectionsfor UK data subjects. Yet the few statistics that exist indicate that unrestrictedtransfers appear to occur from several EEA countries. Furthercriticisms are that the UK 1998 Act does not fully align withthe EEA Directive, the Schedule 4 exceptions are overly wide,the country assessment process can be ignored with the InformationCommissioner’s ‘blessing’ and his powers andresources are limited. Financial Services may be a contrasting exception, where theindustry regulator, the FSA, ‘incidentally’ enforcesmany of the data protection requirements of overseas data transfers,has significant direct enforcement powers and a model ADR approachthrough the Financial Ombudsman. Although the UK banking lawand regulation meets many privacy requirements, it falls shortof the full data protection requirements, clearly illustratingthe value that data protection legislation brings. The alternative self regulatory approach exemplified by theUS Safe Harbor illustrates the weaknesses of pure self regulation,recognized by the US financial services which are moving towardscentralized data privacy supervision with the Gramm-Leach-BlileyAct, reinforcing the worldwide trend towards a more EEA-stylesupervised personal data protection world. In short, seven years after the 1998 Act was passed, we areready for an appropriate mid-course correction, with the 8thPrinciple (& 7^th Principle) needed more than ever in thegrowing outsourced world.     

INVISIBLE PARTIES: LISTENING TO CHILDREN

This article discusses how children are involved in family court proceedings in New Zealand. On July 1, 2005, the Care of Children Act 2004 came into force. One of the changes brought about by this Act is an increased expectation that children will participate in proceedings involving them, by the court giving the child a reasonable opportunity to express his or her view. Children may participate in three ways, the primary mechanism being through the lawyer for the child. Children's views can also be elucidated through a specialist report, and direct participation can be achieved through judicial interviews. As each child is different, it is important that the unique circumstances of the case are accounted for. This article will discuss how each of the three methods can be combined to tailor an approach that gives every individual child a reasonable opportunity to express his or her view. There are a number of examples given of this approach in practice, showing how the court has adapted the process to accommodate the child's situation and personality.