A member of SSA forwarded this email from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia that you may find helpful:

“The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia is writing to bring to your awareness opportunities for researchers under the new Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 that came into effect on 1 April. Under this legislation, Australian universities can request access to a broad range of data held by government organisations in order to undertake research that is in the public interest. 

We believe this new piece of legislation holds significant potential for social science researchers, and have produced this explainer post outlining the Act’s scope and limitations as they apply to Australian researchers. It also outlines the steps required of research teams to gain access to government data under the Act if desired.”