Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome this opportunity to get up and talk about cyber safety and security. I do not think there is any ambiguity among members of parliament that this is a rising and emerging issue that needs to be addressed, particularly in the light of technological change. While I welcome the comments from members on the other side of the House, I think it is always important to deal with it in a substantive way and to make sure that we are taking the Australian community along with us in addressing cyber security.

We know it is an issue; we know it is going to continue to be an issue; and we know it is going to become more sophisticated over time. That is why it is so important to talk about it and why this motion has been put forward—to make sure every Australian is aware of the risks and the problems that they may face. When it comes down to it, we are leading by example to encourage everybody, businesses and individuals, to come forward and share information about the incidents and experiences they have directly around cyber security. We need to make sure that the strategy is in place so that people can be safe, their data can be secure and that people can use technology with confidence into the future, as it evolves and continues to face threats. That is why the government takes this issue seriously. In April we launched the cyber security strategy, which does an enormous amount to build and bring forward information that is relevant to the Australian people.

This government is doing an awful lot of work in this space—$230 million over four years for 33 initiatives in the Cyber Security Strategy; $38 million in cybersecurity initiatives through the National Innovation and Science Agenda; $400 million over the decade as part of the 2016 Defence white paper; and $80 million to improve public-private partnerships and cyberthreat sharing information. So it is easy to make criticisms and assessments that people want to add or contribute and they are most welcome, but we need to acknowledge the enormous amount of work that has already been done and will continue to be done to make sure that people are safe and secure.

Speaking perhaps from a position of history and experience, as the former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, these issues were regularly dealt with in terms of navigating the very difficult challenges around privacy, security and law in my term in that office. If we do not deal with them in a sophisticated and considered way, you can create problems where not only can too many things be reported to government but equally things are not appropriately dealt with by government. Those are some of the great challenges dealt with by the Privacy Commissioner in making sure that everybody's information—commercial, personal, private, medical et cetera—is secure while also making sure that the government does not become a gatekeeper intrusive in all matters related to privacy. That is where the power of technology and its role can be so important in driving change, and the private sector has done so much in this sector through the evolution of technology that helps deal directly with the challenges of cybersecurity.

We also need to acknowledge that there is a very serious cost, if we do not properly address challenges of cybersecurity. There are not just obviously the human costs of sense of security and safety but also a lost productivity in income and the costs of diverting staff and resources, particularly in business, from other activities to deal with any compromise that may occur. There is the loss of revenue associated with the theft of information, particularly intellectual property which is so central to innovative businesses that are going to make a contribution to the future of this country, grow jobs for the 21st century and build Australia for the 21st century as well as, of course, if we are dealing with cybersecurity at a governmental level, particularly across boundaries, compromising our negotiating position, our security position, in some international fora.

There are of course broader costs to the Australian economy where information is stolen from networks, particuarly around personal information for the purposes of fraud. As somebody who has had the occasional phone call from their bank saying that my credit card has somehow been maliciously used in a country I have not visited in some time and to purchase goods and services that I do not believe I have purchased, I know that experience firsthand.

But there is also, of course, a reputational cost that comes from negative social and news media exposure around the challenges of trust not just between individuals but individuals and companies. That is why dealing with cybersecurity, particularly at a local level is so important. In 38 of the primary schools in my electorate of Goldstein, there have been initiatives and efforts made to help children understand the importance of cybersecurity as part of protecting themselves and their families into the future. I encourage more of those initiatives, because, as most issues come back to personal responsibility, we need to make sure that these are expanded and worked as part of secondary schools as well. I thank you for your time.

See this speech in context