Communication and information sharing project

About the communication and information sharing project

This project looked into the exchange of personal information between government agencies, and between government and other sectors.  

The project was  commissioned by the NSW Government Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) and conducted by the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at UNSW Australia in partnership with the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre (NCYLC).  

The purpose of the project was to examine:  

• the policy and legal context of information exchange  
• how the policies are interpreted by different stakeholders  
• gaps, enablers and opportunities for improving the sharing of personal information within and between government and non-government organisations to support more effective service delivery.

The methodology involved a short literature review and case studies of three areas of human service delivery:

• child welfare
• children moving between schools
• the Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI). 

The project found a number of barriers to sharing information.