Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022
The Data Availability and Transparency (DAT) Act establishes a scheme that authorises sharing of public sector data provided certain conditions are met, and the role of the National Data Commissioner. The Office of the National Data Commissioner (ONDC) provides education and support in relation to handling and sharing of public sector data.
The DAT Act defines data as 'any information in a form capable of being communicated, analysed or processed (whether by an individual or by computer or other automated means)'.
Commonwealth records and data assets
The National Archives collectively refers to data, information and records as 'information assets'. Information assets used in government business are Commonwealth records to be managed in accordance with the Archives Act 1983 (Archives Act). The Archives Act applies to data in relation to their value as Commonwealth records and the DAT Act focuses on their value for re-use.
Governance and asset discovery help to achieve outcomes for both Acts. Depending on your agency’s information assets and business environment, enabling governance and asset discovery for these outcomes can be done separately or together.
Governance
Governance can help by ensuring policies, procedures and responsibilities are in place to manage data, information and records, while addressing relevant risks.
The National Archives recommends implementing and maintaining a robust information governance framework to manage the information assets of an agency to support all its business outcomes. Data governance and management can focus on responsibility and accountability specifically for data assets.
The ONDC provides some advice on data governance in their Foundational Four resource.
Asset discovery
Asset discovery can help identify information and data assets for use, management and sharing such as that authorised under the DAT Act.
The National Archives recommends the use of an information asset register to identify all information assets with business value from within your agency.
The ONDC recommends the use of data inventories focused on identification and discovery of data assets to allow sharing and re-use of data assets, and developing an Australian Government Data Catalogue. For further information, see their data discovery webpage.