AS we round the corner on acquiring a new cohort of city councillors across the region, a new report put out by the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) analyses the risks associated with the unauthorised access and disclosure of information held by local government.
IBAC deputy commissioner, David Wolf, when speaking at the Local Government Freedom of Information Forum, said, “Victoria’s councils need to manage a wide range of official, sensitive and confidential information, including personal and business details of ratepayers, planning, development and other business information to fulfil their functions.”
Mr Wolf warns misuse of personal information held by local government can amount to corrupt conduct. The IBAC report advises what local councils can do to address these risks.
“Given the recent council elections, the findings of this report present a timely opportunity for all councils to build their corruption resistance, including for newly elected councillors, by strengthening their systems, processes and controls,” Mr Wolf said.
Councils can better prevent and detect misuse of information by adopting the Victorian Protective Data Security Framework for improving information security, increasing information security training, conducting comprehensive audit programs to identify and deter misuse, improving procurement processes, and raising employee and community awareness of risks and the importance of reporting incidents when they occur.
“While there are shared corruption risks across both parts of local government, local government employees and elected councillors, the corruption risks and drivers for each of these groups differ and need to be considered separately by councils,” said Mr Wolf.
