Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It's been nearly one month since I introduced a private members bill in this House that would ensure stronger penalties for cybercriminals and crack down on ransomware. Since that time, we've seen Medibank and MyDeal join Optus on the list of Australian companies being attacked by cybercriminals, literally impacting millions of Australians. Our ransomware bill, which is based on legislation we introduced in government earlier this year, would specifically reform criminal law to create a standalone offence and introduce tougher penalties for all forms of cyberextortion.

In the week after I introduced my private members bill, the Labor members on the selection committee banded together to block the bill progressing for further evaluation. We could have been putting this important deterrent in place this week. Instead, we've seen nothing from the Labor government when it comes to actually cracking down on cybercrime, and it's been nearly a month since the Optus incident. We know that the Minister for Government Services has been missing in action since Services Australia began auditing sensitive data from the Optus breach, and we know Medicare numbers were stolen as part of the Medibank incident.

We've seen a tardy and lacklustre performance from Labor's dedicated cybersecurity minister, who preferred to tweet about the AFL grand final rather than step up, when the first attack happened, to guide the Australian victims through ways to secure themselves from identity theft. Perhaps that lack of action stems from the fact the government has quietly moved responsibility for cybercrime to the Attorney-General.

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