Hello from Down Under, midway through our region’s Privacy Awareness Week!

The fact that this is a movement and not simply an event is highlighted every day, with significant media coverage and community interest in the issues that now face us all.

New Zealand’s PAW took place last week. A key focus of discussion was the Privacy Bill currently making its way through Parliament. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner and iappANZ co-hosted an event on 7 May, at which the privacy commissioner noted that there’s room for more in the new Privacy Act, including stronger fines and individual rights. Board Directors Daimhin Warner and Jacqui Peace also joined panel discussions on the EU General Data Protection Regulation and data breach notification at the Privacy Commissioner’s Privacy Week Forum in Wellington, providing a practical perspective.

Here in Australia, we are just wrapping up almost two weeks of events, with PAW formally recognized this week. We congratulate the state and territory privacy regulators who have run events, as well as ISACA and Deloitte, and of course many of our members, sponsors and broader community. This week, iappANZ has hosted panel discussions in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, and the OAIC has run a series of events including its sold-out business breakfast, a consumer credit reporting awareness initiative at Wynyard train station, and a webinar launching its new Interactive Privacy Management Plan for Commonwealth government agencies.

Against this backdrop, I welcome you to the Asia-Pacific Digest. Enjoy!