Privacy is everyone’s business

Queensland will celebrate Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) from 16-22 June 2025. This year’s theme is Privacy: it’s everyone’s business.

PAW shines a light on the importance of protecting and respecting personal information, both from the perspective of the community and public sector agencies.

In a nationwide survey, only one in three participants indicated they felt in control of their data privacy, and 89 per cent of participants wanted government agencies to do more to protect their personal information.

This year’s PAW launch event keynote in Brisbane on Tuesday, 17 June, will focus on this issue, challenging conventional thinking and offering practical, people-centred strategies to improve how agencies protect personal information.

Georgina Poole, author, researcher and Human and Organisational Performance advocate, will deliver a keynote presentation, Learning from data incidents: What safety can teach us about privacy.

Georgina will share her insights to help government agencies better understand and respond to privacy breaches, including how system design, context and everyday pressures shape human behaviour.

She will offer practical strategies to shift from a compliance mindset to a learning culture that treats privacy as a shared responsibility. Rather than asking ‘Who messed up?’, Georgina will explore ‘What made the error possible and what can we learn from it?’

Georgina’s keynote presentation will be followed by an expert panel discussion including Leanne Harvey, Vice-President (Administration) and University Registrar, QUT; Dr Jodie Siganto, Director, Privacy 108; Kathy Sundstrom, National Manager Outreach and Engagement, IDCare; and Susan Shanley, A/Privacy Commissioner, OIC.

The launch will be held at The Edge, State Library of Queensland, Brisbane or it can be watched via livestream.

The event will be followed by a morning tea.

You can find out more on PAW.