Monday, 2 March 2026
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD unit in Substantive Law and Procedural Law
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Information Law: The Highlights and Lowlights
- Natalie will discuss some of the most topical information law issues of the past 12 months ranging from Privacy Act reforms; proposed amendments to the FOI Act; the privacy regulator’s views on facial recognition technology (FRT) and the meaning of ‘collection’; DATA Scheme developments; OAIC’s compliance sweep; learnings and insights from recent reports by oversight bodies including the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the ANAO
- Natalie will unpack the key principles and findings, flag the issues to watch and discuss how these matters are relevant to government lawyers who are managing and advising on privacy compliance and risk, data governance and data sharing
Presented by Natalie Butler, Partner, Government and Commercial Law Team, Mills Oakley
Chair
Andrew Allan, Partner, HWLE Lawyers; Lawyer of the Year for Government Practice, Insurance, Dispute Resolution, Best Lawyers Australia 2025
Presenters
Andrew Allan, Partner, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers
Andrew is a Partner in HWLE Lawyers Canberra office. Andrew is an expert dispute resolution lawyer and works primarily in the context of common law-based insurance schemes and administrative benefit and review schemes. Andrew was recognised as ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Canberra in the 2022 edition of Best LawyersTM Australia. He was recognised as ‘Lawyer of the Year’ for Insurance work in Canberra in the 2021 edition. He has also been recognised in the same publication for Government Practice (2017 – 2025), Insurance (2019 – 2025) and Dispute Resolution (2020 - 2025). Andrew’s clients include the Commonwealth Government, the ACT Government, and private insurers (including medical indemnity insurers). Andrew is also an experienced immigration lawyer and assists business sponsors and individuals to obtain Australian visas.
Natalie Butler, Partner, Government and Commercial Law Team, Mills Oakley
Natalie is an administrative law practitioner with 24 years advising government and quasi-government clients on a broad range of information law, public law and regulatory matters. She is an experienced privacy practitioner and particularly knowledgeable about data privacy compliance, privacy risk management and data governance. She’s most recently applied her information law expertise to digital transformation projects, automated decision-making initiatives and helping clients to maximise the value of data assets in ways that are legally and ethically sound. Natalie champions a privacy-by-design ethos to policy design, customer experience, service strategies and technical solutions. She’s also an advocate for embracing a genuine multi-disciplinary approach to legal advising, risk management and compliance to enhance the longevity, and value, of legal compliance strategies. Natalie regularly presents on information law topics ranging from FOI for decision makers, privacy compliance, conducting privacy impact assessments and managing privacy/secrecy requirements in the context of automation. She is a certified information privacy manager (CIPM).
