Peter Timmins

Peter Timmins is an Australian lawyer, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and a consultant who works on FOI and privacy protection issues in Sydney, NSW.

He graduated with Arts and Laws (Honours) degrees from the University of Sydney,  and was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of NSW, prior to joining the Australian Diplomatic Service. Apart from assignments in Canberra, he served in Australian embassies in Korea, Vietnam and the USA.  Subsequently he worked in the finance industry as chief executive of the national industry association for credit unions, then later as a consultant specialising in public policy and public management issues including pioneering policy development training for the Commonwealth Public Service Commission, and other Commonwealth and state government agencies.

Peter has also been involved in the FOI field for 25 years. He was a consultant to the NSW Premier’s Department during the initial phase of introduction of the FOI Act and extensively involved in training in the state and local government sectors.

Peter was Deputy Chair of the Independent Audit of Free Speech in Australia, commissioned by Australia’s Right to Know (2007), and a member of the Australian Law Reform Commission Advisory Committee for its reference on secrecy provisions in Commonwealth laws (2008-2009). In 2013 he was appointed to the NSW Information Advisory Committee. He provides advice and assistance on information access and related issues.

Peter is an experienced public speaker and commentator with many public speaking engagements and appearances on 702 Mornings, and Radio National’s The National Interest and the Law Report, and as an expert often quoted in media reports.

He is an advocate of improved standards of transparency and accountability.