The basis of this study was my belief that the introduction of the present privacy
legislation had been done in such a "try and see" manner. To me, the whole process
"begged" for a much closer look to try to understand the rationale behind successive
governments' decisions on this policy initiative.
I begin my look at the process from the 1960s as this is when general public concern for
the security of personal information was high. I then move to the introduction of the
proposed Australia Card and its demise and then to the present. Then, with reference to
the "classic" policy analysis authors, I show that the implementation of federal privacy
laws in Australia was an excellent example of how not to go about convincing the
public the new laws would offer the protection they, the public, sought. I also explore
the reasons behind negative lobbying by certain non-government sector interests to
demonstrate how this sector has influenced government thinking.
As an example of the study of a policy issue this thesis shows the effect a lack of
planning, and a terrible lack of communication, can have on the introduction of any new
legislation. Much of this is due to the fact that the real issue behind the introduction of
privacy legislation was that of increasing taxation revenue and not the protection of
individuals' privacy. The privacy legislation was the "sweetener" the government
believed was needed to satisfy the general public's concerns so that the government
could achieve the desired result for its taxation revenue policy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218992 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Harding, Ian M., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Administrative Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Ian M. Harding |
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