The Western Australia state government is focusing on new Internet legislation. The government wants uniform Internet laws relating to child porn and has launched a crackdown on people who post voyeuristic photographs of children online. The move follows the release of a discussion paper developed jointly by state and territory governments.
WA Attorney General Jim McGinty said the state parliament would consider a raft of new legislation, saying laws needed to change to keep up with the times.
"With the advances in technology, it is very easy for people to take photographs of unwitting subjects then download and distribute them on Web sites around the world," McGinty said.
"People are being photographed in places like toilets and change rooms without knowing it.
"We need to make sure the law keeps pace with the times to ensure people are not exploited."
McGinty said the issue first came to light after unauthorized photographs of Melbourne schoolboys competing at sporting events were posted on a gay Web site.
He said attention would also be given to stopping the practice of "upskirting", where photographs are taken up a woman"s skirt without her knowledge.
The attorney general said a crackdown on the inappropriate use of "spy" and mobile phone cameras would also be considered.
Submissions on the discussion paper close on October 14.
Meanwhile, the WA government - which inked a A$67 million (US$51 million), shared-services deal with Oracle in June - has begun work on its Shared Corporate Services Project.
It involves consolidating the back-office functions of more than 100 government agencies into three, shared services centers.
There are some 21 financial management, and 12 payroll, systems, many of which are incompatible, in the largest 49 agencies.
The three corporate service centers will enable government departments to pool resources in the areas of financial management, human resource management and buying.
The 10-year deal with Oracle was inked in June and is expected to be fully operational in 2008.