Suelette Dreyfus

Tax commissioner Chris Jordan is sticking to his guns after being accused of abusing parliamentary privilege in Senate estimates by using the high-profile hearings to deny claims that whistleblowers Ron Shamir and Richard Boyle suffered reprisals for speaking up.

The Commonwealth has finally responded to the fact that anonymised data might not be safe. But there is still reason to question its commitment to privacy.

Security clearance creep and weakened freedom of information does not help public trust in government, argues researcher Suelette Dreyfus. Even top public servants, when kept in the dark, will try to take a peek.