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WITH a large privacy law reform agenda before federal parliament this year, Karen Curtis says her office will remain focused on "business as usual".

The big-ticket item for government is a planned rewrite of the Privacy Act for the digital age, in response to recommendations by the Australian Law Reform Commission. But ahead of this revamp is the Healthcare Identifiers Bill, now before parliament.

WITH a large privacy law reform agenda before federal parliament this year, Karen Curtis says her office will remain focused on "business as usual". <!-- google_ad_section_end(name=story_introduction) --><!-- // .story-intro --><!-- google_ad_section_start(name=story_body, weight=high) -->

The big-ticket item for government is a planned rewrite of the Privacy Act for the digital age, in response to recommendations by the Australian Law Reform Commission. But ahead of this revamp is the Healthcare Identifiers Bill, now before parliament.

The Rudd Government has referred its controversial Healthcare Identifiers Bill – which seeks to attach a unique ID number to all Australians – to a Senate committee for examination, but given the public just one week to respond.

Under the legislation, which the Government hopes to pass by the middle of the year, every Australian will be issued with a 16 digit number in addition to their Medicare number.

The Rudd Government has today appointed Professor John McMillan AO as the Information Commissioner Designate.

Cabinet Secretary, Senator Joe Ludwig, said Professor McMillan’s extensive experience will be fundamental in establishing a successful Office of the Information Commissioner.

The pace of cyber attacks on Australian companies is picking up, a new report shows, underscoring the growing risk of financial loss for companies at the hands of hackers.

More than one-third of Australian and New Zealand companies polled by data security firm Symantec said attacks had increased in the past year, while 89 per cent of companies acknowledged an intrusion in the last 12 months – higher than the global average of 75 per cent.

Former High Court judge Michael Kirby will receive the 2010 International Privacy Champion award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

The award recognises his work to develop international privacy guidelines that have provided the basis for laws, agreements and frameworks since 1980.