The Government received a substantial package of proposed reforms and recommendations from the Productivity Commission in its final report into Data Availability and Use.

The reformed national data system will improve greatly Australia’s ability to capture the social and economic benefits from existing data.

The Productivity Commission recommended opportunities for active data use by consumers, and data access arrangements be dialled up or down according to the level of risk associated with different types of data and different types of data uses. The Productivity Commission recommended data access arrangements be underpinned by a modernised regulatory framework.

The Government is committed to:

1. A Consumer Data Right as a new competition and consumer measure to allow consumers to harness and have greater control over their data.
2. A National Data Commissioner to support a new data sharing and release framework and oversee the integrity of data sharing and release activities of Commonwealth agencies.
3. A legislative package will streamline data sharing and release, subject to strict data privacy and confidentiality provisions.

Reforming the national data system

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