Katina Michael giving evidence as a board member of the Australian Privacy Foundation at the Senate Standing Committee for Legal and Consitutional Affairs (Personal Property Securities Bill 2008)

K. Michael, University of Wollongong

Abstract

Senate standing committees, covering every area of government operations, have developed a reputation as the backbone of the Senate’s committee work. Standing committees permit a continuing surveillance of defined fields of government activity, call upon scholarly research and advice and create an awareness of the Senate’s ‘watchdog’ function. There are a number of different kinds of standing committees: domestic, legislative scrutiny, legislative and general purpose, and joint. In this instance, acting in the capacity of an Australia Privacy Foundation (APF) board member, I was granted an invitation to give evidence at the Committee's public hearing which was held on Thursday, 22 January 2009 betwen 2 and 2.45 pm. http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Consultations_reforms_and_reviewspersonal_property_securities_reform The venue for the hearing is the Jubilee Room, Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney. The Committee’s practice is to invite a representative to make a brief opening statement, outlining their main arguments, and then to answer questions from Senators. The hearing is open to the public and the media.