Australian Taxation Office Cuts Snooping Staff

August 29th, 2006: Following the actions of benefits agency, CentreLink, the ATO has seen twenty-four staff members sacked, resigned or demoted under the Tax Administration Act (2000).

Australian's filing tax returns for the last financial year could have more to worry about than a straightforward audit if a report in The Australian

Of the 24 staff members who accessed the records 'inappropriately', when approached regarding the matter, 12 resigned immediately, two were fined, six were either demoted or had their salaries reduced and four had their employment terminated.

While the Centerlink audit of 'inappropriate' access went back to 2004 and netted nearly 800 occurences, the ATO has either limited its search and re-deploy actions to last year - with three more cases being reported this financial year.

All the major government agencies are now re-examining their audit and security policies with a view of tightening these, and other similar, breaches of privacy

The timing of these announcements from disparate but federal agencies could, with a cynical eye, be viewed as convenient while discussions of a single unifying ID and records card are still ongoing in the background.

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