Why not use the electoral roll?
The first ‘incident’ arose from the Government’s desire to sell its tax changes to the Australian people. In May, evidence by the Australian Electoral Commissioner to a Senate Committee revealed that the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) had supplied detailed electoral roll information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It subsequently emerged that the ATO required the information to be used as part of its GST advertising campaign; to send personalised letters from the Prime Minister to most adults in the country. The immediate reaction of all the agencies concerned was to defend the proposal. The Electoral Commissioner said on 25 May that the data had been provided for a one off use subject to a written ‘safeguard agreement’, and on 6 June stated that he had legal advice (from the Australian Government Solicitor) that he could provide the ATO with the personal information it had requested. The ATO and the Government both claimed the planned communication was a legitimate tec
