Exclusive: Department apologises for ‘administrative error’, saying matter referred to Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

The prime minister’s department has blamed an “administrative error” for inadvertently distributing the email addresses of thousands of women who had registered on a “confidential” government database for women seeking appointment to government boards or decision-making bodies.

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet sent an email on Wednesday informing women on the “AppointWomen” register that it was being decommissioned and advising of other websites they could use if they were still interested in appointment to a government board or decision-making body.

But the email addresses of all of the thousands of women who had been registered with “AppointWomen” were included.

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Three hours later, Troy Sloan, the acting first assistant secretary of the department’s social policy division, emailed the thousands of women again.

“There has been an administrative error which has led to the unintentional disclosure of a number of email addresses,” he wrote.

“We sincerely apologise for the disclosure. We are currently reviewing our internal processes to ensure that this does not occur again.”

He said the department had referred the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and included details of a “departmental privacy contact officer” for those who had concerns.

When AppointWomen was set up in 2007, the then minister assisting the prime minister for women’s issues, Julie Bishop, said it was a “new free and confidential online registration and search service”.

“It will support the efforts of Australian government departments to identify talented women, with diverse skills and experience, who are actively seeking appointment to boards or other decision-making bodies,” she said at the time.

The AppointWomen website has been superseded by a new website called BoardLinks, which requires women seeking to register to be nominated by ministers, departmental secretaries or one of 21 “BoardLink champions” – a list that includes refugee advocate Paris Aristotle, the prime minister’s wife, Lucy Turnbull, the Business Council of Australia chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, former ASX chief Elmer Funke Kupper, former chief scientist Ian Chubb and businesswoman Diane Smith-Gander.

In response to questions from Guardian Australia a departmental spokesperson said: “AppointWomen is a now defunct database of women seeking appointment to a government board. The database has not been used by departments to source candidates for some time. It has been superseded by the BoardLinks program, which features a similar database.

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“BoardLinks is a superior resource to AppointWomen. For example, BoardLinks ensures only women who are highly qualified for board positions are put forward as they require endorsement by either a minister, departmental secretary or designated BoardLinks champion (from business and the not-for-profit sectors). Decommissioning AppointWomen and strengthening efforts around BoardLinks will assist to streamline government resources and make sourcing high-quality candidates more effective.”

Figures released in late 2015 showed the proportion of women on federal government boards has dropped slightly to 39.1% of positions held by women but that figure remains close to the government’s target of having at least 40% of Australian government board positions held by women.

The minister for women, Michaelia Cash, said she was determined to “step up” efforts to boost diversity within government appointments.

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