Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'll do so going forward. He should've been well informed. He was an Optus executive. It's an absolute disgrace that they would come in here today and pretend that this failure is anything but one of their own making.

It was the Albanese Labor government that actually applied the cyberincident and critical infrastructure register reporting to the telecommunications sector after the election—straight after the election! We addressed the gap in the application of the SOCI obligations for telcos. Not only that, after the former coalition government abolished the role entirely, we established a cabinet level Minister for Cyber Security. She's been working hard, working with the agencies to actually address these problems to enhance coordination across government on cyberpolicy, cyberstrategy and cyber-response mechanisms. Thank goodness we did, because from the outset Minister O'Neil has been leading a dedicated team who have been working around the clock to protect Australians. We've had the toughest and smartest people in Australia and in the government working tirelessly to respond. That includes the excellent team at the Australian Signals Directorate, who are continuously updating the minister on active cyberincidents. They deserve our thanks, not the former government who made their job even harder.

Significant support is also being provided by the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Home Affairs to the Medibank and Optus incidents. And, of course, the AFP is leading a criminal investigation to hunt down and prosecute the attackers. Home Affairs has led the coordination of multiple federal, state and territory agencies and departments to support the response and put protections in place. To all of those dedicated public servants, I say thank you. Beyond the politicisation of this motion, they are doing a great job and they should be thanked. Unlike those on the other side of the House, they're not trying to escape blame or point the finger at others. They're taking responsibility and doing what needs to be done. I want them all to know that the Albanese government is right on their side, and all Australians, in protecting them from these attacks.

We're cracking down on hackers. We're making it clear with major increased penalties that companies have an obligation to protect consumer data. It's the Albanese Labor government that is actually putting all of these things in place to protect Australians.

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