Questions about you
What is your name?
Name
Ellie Bedells
Do your views officially represent those of an organisation?
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(Required)
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Yes
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No
Consultation questions: Transparency and Safeguards
How should the need for transparency about the use of ADM be balanced with the need to protect sensitive information about business processes and systems?
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What transparency rules would be appropriate to build into the framework?
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I welcome the opportunity to make a published submission.
• RECOMMENDATION: Outsourcing design of ADM processes to private businesses should be avoided. This would reduce Commercial in Confidence barriers to transparency around ADM source code and algorithms.
• Incidentally, from a national security perspective this could reduce the risk of foreign influence on the design of an ADM system in the case where a private company could have links to a foreign corporate or government entity.
• RECOMMENDATION: Outsourcing design of ADM processes to private businesses should be avoided. This would reduce Commercial in Confidence barriers to transparency around ADM source code and algorithms.
• Incidentally, from a national security perspective this could reduce the risk of foreign influence on the design of an ADM system in the case where a private company could have links to a foreign corporate or government entity.
What pre-implementation safeguards should apply where ADM is intended to be used?
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• RECOMMENDATION: As a general pre-implementation safeguard, the Cabinet exemption in section 34 of the Cth FOI Act should be amended, in line with the recommendations of Assoc. Prof. Yee-Fui Ng and Assoc. Prof. Maria O’Sullivan (1), at a minimum.
• Although a compromise, this would go some way to satisfying the Closing Observation of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
• The connection between parliamentary legislative intention and implementation of that intention through ADM design and policies should be more transparent following appropriate amendment of s 34 of the Cth FOI Act.
• In other words, the legal foundations for ADM processes and decisions would be more easily understood during the review of a decision, including when a matter arises in the public interest.
(1) Ng, Yee-Fui and O'Sullivan, Maria, Robodebt, Transparency and Freedom of Information: Should the Cabinet Confidentiality Exemption Be Retained? (December 19, 2024). (2023) 30(3) Australian Journal of Administrative Law 1092-1208, Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4699934
• Although a compromise, this would go some way to satisfying the Closing Observation of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
• The connection between parliamentary legislative intention and implementation of that intention through ADM design and policies should be more transparent following appropriate amendment of s 34 of the Cth FOI Act.
• In other words, the legal foundations for ADM processes and decisions would be more easily understood during the review of a decision, including when a matter arises in the public interest.
(1) Ng, Yee-Fui and O'Sullivan, Maria, Robodebt, Transparency and Freedom of Information: Should the Cabinet Confidentiality Exemption Be Retained? (December 19, 2024). (2023) 30(3) Australian Journal of Administrative Law 1092-1208, Available at http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4699934
What system-level safeguards should be required, to ensure that ADM operates appropriately?
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What decision-level safeguards should there be for persons affected by decisions made using ADM (for example, review rights)?
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Should individuals be notified of the use of ADM?
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Yes
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No
Please expand on your response
This notification would make it easier for individuals to make a FOI request or have a decision reviewed.
If yes, should notification be required at a specific point in the decision-making process, or should flexibility be provided to agencies about the appropriate time to make a notification?
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Ticked
Yes
Radio button:
Unticked
No
Please expand on your response
The general rule should be that notification is performed as soon as possible.
Should there be any exemptions to ADM safeguards? If yes, what exemptions should be included and why?
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Should the safeguards be different depending on the risks associated with the use of ADM for a particular decision or administrative action?
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