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Federal government amending telecommunications regulations following Optus hack
Josh Butler
The government will move to increase fraud protections after the Optus data breach, with proposed changes to allow large telecommunications companies to share more data with federal authorities with the aim of better monitoring potential fraud.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, will hold a press conference in Canberra shortly to outline amendments to the Telecommunications Regulations 2021, which the ministers say will “allow Optus and other telcos to better coordinate with financial institutions, the commonwealth, and states and territories, to detect and mitigate the risks of cybersecurity incidents, frauds, scams and other malicious cyber activities”.
They said in a release:
The amendments will enable telecommunications companies to temporarily share approved government identifier information (such as driver’s licence, Medicare and passport numbers of affected customers) with regulated financial services entities to allow them to implement enhanced monitoring and safeguards for customers affected by the data breach.
It comes after the government had requested Optus share more data with authorities, in order to cross-check for fraud and other issues. Chalmers and Rowland said the new information to be shared “can only be used for the sole purposes of preventing or responding to cyber security incidents, fraud, scam activity or identify theft” and must be destroyed after it is used for that purpose.
They say it will allow for better fraud detection.
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NSW government spurns ‘third world’ health claim
The NSW health minister has rejected criticism of the state’s healthcare system as “third world” by doctors speaking at a parliamentary inquiry, AAP is reporting.
Brad Hazzard told reporters today:
Well they want to go and work in the third world then.
“That’s a ridiculous proposition,” he said after touring an inner Sydney healthcare centre due to open next year.
Those doctors who spoke are very good in their own areas … but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good at managing an entire health system.
The health minister said the $100m HealthOne centre in Green Square was designed to alleviate the strain of patient build-up at the nearby Royal Prince Alfred hospital by providing access to primary healthcare doctors, specialists and medical research facilities.
His comments come a day after emergency medical experts were quizzed at an inquiry hearing about “war zone” conditions in public hospitals that remain under pandemic stress.
Emergency doctors Pramod Chandru and James Tadros on Wednesday told of their frustrations working in the “disheartening” setting of public hospitals in western Sydney. Dr Tadros told the upper house probe into ambulance ramping and emergency departments:
It was not our goal when we started out our training in medical school to find ourselves in circumstances that see us failing the needs of our patients on a daily basis. But this is the truth of our current working environment … it’s not equitable, equal or fair.
Medical staff were saving lives “in spite of the system rather than because of it”, Dr Tadros said. He read a text exchange between him and his colleague that described the system as “basically third world”.
The pair were discussing an 88-year-old woman with terminal cancer who was left for 12 hours in an ED before getting a bed.
Hazzard said claims of patients waiting up to 36 hours to see a doctor in emergency departments were “rubbish”.
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine president Clare Skinner cited the figure at the inquiry on Wednesday.
“There is no record anywhere of that assertion,” said Hazzard, adding that Skinner’s group only represents “about a quarter” of the country’s emergency doctors.
Hazzard said NSW Health led “the entire country” and patient offloading rates across NSW were in the high 90s, within the first 30 minutes of presenting at a hospital, compared to other states that lagged behind.
Josh Taylor
Yesterday, we reported that security firm G4S had put staff and former staff on alert after revealing mass amounts of their personal information, including ID documents, medical reports, police checks and Workcover reports had been stolen from the company and posted on the dark web in a ransomware attack at Port Phillip prison.
The company late on Wednesday night confirmed to Guardian Australia the breach affects 5,000 current and former staff, and those affected can have the cost of replacing documents reimbursed.
A spokesperson for G4S said:
We apologise to any individual whose data may have been disclosed and we are providing advice and support to those affected. If an individual’s current driver licence or passport have been disclosed, G4S will reimburse the fees to replace these documents.
Guardian Australia has seen evidence that a trove of 200GB of data from G4S’s systems is available on the dark web.
2022 sets rainfall record for Sydney
This year is officially Sydney’s wettest on record with a total of 2199.8mm of rain recorded in the year to 1.10pm today.
There are still 86 days remaining in 2022. Sydney’s previous rainfall record was set in 1950 when 2194mm was dumped on the city over 12 months.
Royce Kurmelovs
A philanthropic foundation backed by Mike Cannon-Brookes has invested $10m into Tasmanian startup the Good Car company to help slash the cost of secondhand electric vehicles in Australia.
The announcement from Boundless on Thursday follows months of signalling by Cannon-Brookes that he was prepared to invest large sums into businesses addressing aspects of the carbon transition.
Blog news!
This is just a quick side note about a new feature on the blog. If you’re following along on your desktop, you might have noticed there are new filters on the left hand side of your screen.
So that means you can filter for the updates that are most relevant to you. If you’re in the sunshine state, for example, by pressing the “Queensland” filter you can see the developments we’ve been covering there today – the release of the report into Queensland’s Star Casino, the inquiry into police response to domestic violence and weather alerts – without having to read through news about Sydney’s historic rain.
Hope you find it handy!
Lisa Cox
Government launches strategy to improve energy efficiency
The Albanese government will begin public consultation for a new national energy performance strategy to improve the energy efficiency of homes and businesses.
Launching the strategy in Sydney, the assistant climate change and energy minister, Jenny McAllister, said for too long Australia had lacked a plan to “deliver a high energy performance economy”.
As we work to deliver secure and affordable low-emissions energy supply, we need to accelerate demand-side action to support an efficient, least-cost pathway through the energy transformation.
So much of the energy Australians pay for every year is wasted on inefficiency.
Australia lags behind international counterparts on energy efficiency and performance. This year’s Climate Change Performance Index, an independent monitoring tool presented at the annual UN Climate Change Conference, ranked Australia 54 out of 64 countries for energy performance per capita.
The EU has been progressively strengthening its energy efficiency targets to reduce costs and meet its 2030 emissions reduction goals and similar action is being pursued by countries such as South Korea and Japan.
McAllister said the International Energy Agency had made it clear that without early action on energy efficiency, the transition to net zero emissions will be more expensive and difficult.
In a speech at the National Energy Efficiency Summit, McAllister will say opportunities such as building better homes, upgrading existing homes and using more efficient appliances in homes and businesses are within Australia’s grasp but need the right policies to make them a reality.
McAllister says homes and businesses, through no fault of their own, are wasting too much energy.
Preventing this waste is a double win on energy prices. For the consumer, who pays less directly. The reduction in demand lowers costs across the system.
And energy efficient homes aren’t just cheaper – they are more comfortable and healthier.
A discussion paper for developing the strategy will be released in coming weeks, with a plan for better energy performance to come in mid 2023.
Josh Butler
Does the latest Optus announcement mean the government takes back its criticisms of the telco?
Let’s circle back on the Chalmers/Rowland presser on Optus and data sharing with banks – and exactly what this change means in the ongoing stoush between the government and the telecommunications company.
You might remember over the weekend that ministers Bill Shorten and Clare O’Neil were critical of Optus for not sharing enough information with the government (and, in turn, financial regulators, banks and the like) about the data breach, so they could cross-check information and prevent fraud.
Shorten told a press conference:
We need this, not tomorrow or the next day, we really needed it days ago … We want to prevent further fraud and we seek Optus to step up its communication and transparency with government.
The changes announced today are in that same area, giving telecommunications companies more ability to share such information as driver’s licence, Medicare and passport data, in a bid to prevent further fraud. So the question I asked communications minister Rowland was, was the slow delivery of this information by Optus due to the fact the company was declining to provide it, or because they weren’t legally able to provide it?
Rowland said it was a bit more nuanced, saying current legislation provided a “very limited and specific range of circumstances” in which such data could be shared – and claimed Optus had said they didn’t believe these circumstances applied.
She said:
So we considered it prudent, having taken and considered the proper legal advice, that the most effective way to enable this data to be shared beyond doubt, was through amending these regulations.
She said the Telecommunications Act had explicit prohibitions of companies disclosing this data, and that the changes would clear up any doubt about when exemptions could apply.
Rowland and treasurer Chalmers said the changes would cover financial institutions regulated by Apra (excluding branches of foreign banks), and such information can only be used for the sole purpose of preventing or responding to cyber security, fraud, scam or identity theft issues.
Greens leader calls to ‘keep up the pressure’ on stage-three tax cuts
Just in case you haven’t got your fill of stage-three tax cuts news on the blog today, I bring you these tweets from Greens leader Adam Bandt.
Amid the government’s changing language around the issue and the opposition clearly feeling the need to ramp up their defence of the cuts, Bandt believes “we’re on the brink of a big moment” which could see the cuts which deliver bigger boons for the rich reversed. He says:
This could be the first time in decades that a campaign to stop unfair tax cuts has won.
We’re on the brink of a big moment with the government’s Stage 3 Tax cuts.
There’s growing unrest within the government about funding massive tax cuts for the rich.
Keep up the pressure. This could be the first time in decades that a campaign to stop unfair tax cuts has won.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) October 6, 2022
The Greens, unions, social services peak body, & progressive economists agree: Labor must dump tax cuts for the rich.
Stage 3 is 7 times bigger than disastrous tax cuts that sent the UK economy into a tailspin.
It’s expensive, unfair, & put gov’t spending in services at risk.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) October 6, 2022
If we stop them, we’d be able to:
🦷Put dental and mental health into Medicare
🧒Make childcare free
🏘 Build a million affordable homesPolls show the majority agree – funding services is a better way to spend $244 billion.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) October 6, 2022
When the tax cuts first passed, only the Greens voted to keep our progressive tax system.
Now, the fight against the Stage 3 tax cuts has seen thousands of you calling, emailing, and messaging Labor to axe them.
Keep up the pressure. We’re on the verge of something big.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) October 6, 2022
That press conference with treasurer Jim Chalmers and communications minster Michelle Rowland has ended but I’ll just go back to a question about the Optus data breach.
Reporter:
Optus was previously charged by the government with essentially misleading the public about the nature of the hack and its response. What’s changed now about the way Optus has handled it to make the Government confident that it’s a trustworthy partner share this data with other institutions? Does the Government trust Optus?
Rowland:
I think it’s important that consumers understand that these regulations are being put in place sole purpose of protecting consumers going forward. So our primary concern here is to ensure that we do whatever we can under law to enable…those risks to be mitigated in terms of ID theft, fraud and other misuse of their data. So that is our primary focus here. We have been in constant contact with Optus over the last two weeks including in relation to what would be the most effective instrument and one that would give effect to those changes as quickly as possible.
Treasurer says super profits tax is not a government priority
Guardian Australia’s political editor, Katharine Murphy, asks the treasurer two questions:
Just a point of clarity from both of you, if I may. Treasurer, you said in relation to super profits that it’s not a priority for you at this point in time, no proposal that you’re working up specifically for October. But repeatedly, obviously, pre-election and since, you have left open the field of multinational tax avoidance as one area. So can we get a straight answer about whether or not this is a priority you might get to over the course of this government because you haven’t – you haven’t ruled it out prior to the election?
So if we can get just a straight answer, is there something you are looking at over this term of government? And also to Michelle, if I may: I think from what you said before … about how would your constituents view a broken promise on stage three, I think you have been supportive of the discussion. Is that your position? Or are you concerned about how your constituents may respond in the event that the government either amends or delays or changes the stage-three package?
Jim Chalmers:
On your first question about the PRRT [petroleum resource rent tax] – I haven’t spent any time coming up with a proposal to change it. You’re asking me down the track would that ever change? Not my expectation. But let’s see what the advice is, let’s see what further work happens, let’s see developments that happen over the course of this term. But I am being upfront in saying it’s not something that we have asked for an outcome on, it’s not something I have been working up for October or May, that’s levelling with you.
Michelle Rowland answers the second question:
I think it’s important to understand that I think across Australia people expect this government to be responsive to ensure that we have exactly as the treasurer articulated, a sustainable and responsible budget. I think that’s what Australians are looking for in three weeks’ time.
Treasurer says private discussions about stage-three tax cuts are taking place ‘from all parts of the conversation’
Reporter:
It’s been noticeable no caucus members have come out publicly to say scale back stage-three tax cuts. Do you [see] there’s this reluctance within the Labor caucus to break that election promise? What is your view on that reluctance?
Chalmers:
I have the highest regards for my colleagues and I understand that there are a number of big challenging issues in the budget, not just that one, that people will have a view on. And I can’t remember a more talented, diverse, considered party room than the one that we have right now and so I respect their opinion.
And it’s not a big surprise to me that on an issue as big as this there’ll be a range of views. There are a range of views in Peter Dutton’s party room. Bridget Archer says these tax cuts should be considered. Russell Broadbent said these tax cuts should be reconsidered.
I think that’s inevitable when you’re dealing with an issue of this nature and magnitude. I’m not troubled by the views that people have put forward and people have put a lot of views to me privately from all parts of the conversation as well. I welcome that. I’m not surprised by that.
Questions about the stage-three tax cuts continue. The treasurer elaborates on his position he shares with other global financial institutions that there is a need to respond to global conditions which have “deteriorated sharply”.
Reporter:
Does the premium placed on responsible budget management, therefore, trump your election commitment to deliver those stage-three tax cuts particularly given that inflation and debt was a clear and present issue in May when you reiterated the commitment to deliver that?
Also, given there has been apparently a substantial change in the last few months, what makes you so confident that mid-2024 we won’t again be in a very different position and clearly able to deliver those cuts?
Chalmers:
There’s a few parts in that question. First of all, when it comes to the stage 3 tax cuts, our position hasn’t changed.
Secondly – the point that I have made including this week is that I think the global conditions have deteriorated sharply in the course of the last few weeks. And that’s a point that has been made by the OECD, the IMF, the World Bank and others.
Our expectations for the global economy have deteriorated even in the course of the last few weeks. Your question about the next couple of years, I think, is a good one too. My job, as the treasurer of this country, is to make sure that the budget is on as sustainable footing as it can be to deal with the challenges that we anticipate.
We already know we got high and rising inflation, we already know that the global situation has deteriorated, we know we got these big persistent structural pressures on spending and so in the context of all of that, we need to make sure we’re building our buffers to the extent that we can against what might come at us over the course of the next couple of years and that we’re dealing with these challenges which are before us. That’s the job not just for the treasurer but of the government, of the budget that I’ll hand down in the course of the next three weeks.
The ministers are now taking questions. No prizes for the treasurer being fielded questions about stage-three tax cuts as speculation begins about whether the government could take back its commitment.
Jim Chalmers isn’t saying the policy has changed, but continues to use the language we’ve seen from government ministers about the budget needing to be responsive to changing economic conditions.
Reporter:
Treasurer, why did you float that balloon on stage-three tax cuts the other day? Did the prime minister give you permission to do so? And have you been reprimanded for it?
Chalmers:
I don’t need permission to point out that every budget we hand down, including the one in three weeks’ time, will put a premium on responsible economic management.
My commitment to the Australian people, the government’s commitment to the Australian people, is to do what we can, to make sure that our budgets are responsible, affordable, sustainable and targeted to the economic conditions that we confront.
I made that point earlier in the week in this room, I have been making that point for some time. And I stand by that. You know, no responsible government can ignore a high and rising inflation, a deteriorating global situation, or the fact that we have got these persistent structural pressures on the budget.
And so I will continue to make the point that in the context of those three things. We need to make sure that spending in the budget is responsible and affordable and sustainable and sufficiently targeted to the pretty substantial challenges that we confront.
Telcos need to ensure that the information they’re seeking is ‘necessary and proportionate’: Chalmers
Treasurer Jim Chalmers follows the communications minister. He gives these details about the new regulation:
We’ve worked really closely with the industry, with Apra, the ACCC, the information commissioner and other agencies to ensure that we can facilitate as best we can the safe and secure sharing of data between Optus and regulated financial institutions with appropriate safeguards and commitments given by the affected parties.
[The regulation’s] been carefully designed with strong privacy and security safeguards to ensure that only limited information can be made available temporarily to prevent and respond to cyber security incidents, fraud, scams and related activities.
They cover … financial institutions that are regulated by Apra, apart from the foreign bank branches, and they give Michelle, as communications minister, the ability to specifically add financial service entities if required, but only where those entities are related to or support an Apra regulated entities will be able to receive government identifier information such as driver licence numbers, Medicare and passport numbers of the affected customers, but not names, addresses, dates of birth or other personal information.
And what this does is, it helps ensure that the information which is shared is appropriately targeted. And to be eligible to receive the data, the institutions need to make a number of undertakings in writing.
They need to comply with the Privacy Act obligations to the ACCC which are enforceable in Australian consumer law. They need to meet Apra’s information security stand. They need to ensure that the information they’re seeking is necessary and proportionate. They need to satisfy robust security requirements and protocols for data transfer and storage, and they need to ensure that the information that they get is destroyed when it’s no longer required.
Telco changes will mean only limited information will be made available temporarily
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, is the first to take the mic at the press conference about these changes to the Telecommunications Act:
What we are going to do is amend the telecommunications regulations to do two things.
This is going to enable Optus and other telcos to better coordinate with financial institutions to detect and mitigate the risks of malicious activity, including ID theft and scams.
And the second is to allow Optus to share limited information about customers with government agencies like Services Australia to assist in preventing fraud.
Rowland said the changes are about trying to reduce the impact of this data breach on Optus customers and to enable financial institutions to implement enhanced safeguards and monitoring.
We have designed these regulations with strong privacy and security safeguards to ensure that only limited information is made available for a specific set of designated purposes.
For example, financial services entities who will be eligible to receive the data must be Apra regulated financial institutions. Information can only be used for the sole purposes of preventing or responding to cyber security incidents, fraud, scam activity or identity theft. The approved recipients must satisfy very robust information security requirement and protocols for the transfer and storage of data. And information received must be destroyed when it’s no longer required.
Federal government amending telecommunications regulations following Optus hack
Josh Butler
The government will move to increase fraud protections after the Optus data breach, with proposed changes to allow large telecommunications companies to share more data with federal authorities with the aim of better monitoring potential fraud.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, will hold a press conference in Canberra shortly to outline amendments to the Telecommunications Regulations 2021, which the ministers say will “allow Optus and other telcos to better coordinate with financial institutions, the commonwealth, and states and territories, to detect and mitigate the risks of cybersecurity incidents, frauds, scams and other malicious cyber activities”.
They said in a release:
The amendments will enable telecommunications companies to temporarily share approved government identifier information (such as driver’s licence, Medicare and passport numbers of affected customers) with regulated financial services entities to allow them to implement enhanced monitoring and safeguards for customers affected by the data breach.
It comes after the government had requested Optus share more data with authorities, in order to cross-check for fraud and other issues. Chalmers and Rowland said the new information to be shared “can only be used for the sole purposes of preventing or responding to cyber security incidents, fraud, scam activity or identify theft” and must be destroyed after it is used for that purpose.
They say it will allow for better fraud detection.
Treasurer to speak about Optus data breach shortly
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is due to make an announcement soon about Optus.
We’ll bring you what he has to say as soon as he steps up. Stay tuned.
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