Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity. Will the minister update the House on the progress the coalition government has made in strengthening our nation's cybersecurity? How does this compare to other approaches that could be in our government at a different time?

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the honourable member, who has been a relentless advocate for protecting Australians online in whatever they might do. She knows, as we do on this side of the House, that no government has done more than this one to protect Australians online. We know that with rapidly evolving technology Australians are facing risks in their homes, on their phones, in their schoolyards, in their workplaces, in businesses small and large and from an ever-increasing range of threats: threats from government, threats from criminal networks, threats from activists and threats from cyberbullies.

Just in the last few months we've seen extraordinary attacks on small businesses and large in this country through ransomware, where code is dropped onto the systems of businesses. They are shut down until they hand over money to criminals. That's why, in anticipation of this and in response to it, in April 2016 the Prime Minister and the Minister for Social Services announced the government's Cyber Security Strategy. Never has there been such a coordinated, coherent response to this issue. It included $36 million to our law enforcement and criminal intelligence agencies to attack cybercrime—to make sure cybercriminals are held to account and that they can't live in a fog of excuses. It makes sure that we are forming global networks to solve global problems with global solutions against local attacks. And, of course, it has a strong focus on forming partnerships across the private and public sectors to ensure we can detect, deter and respond to these attacks.

There are risks to this strategy. The biggest risk, as in so many other areas, is a government that can't make ends meet. If we want evidence of this we need look back no further than May 2012, that fateful night when the member for Lilley announced the four surpluses that were never to be delivered. Hidden in that budget was a cut of $1.2 billion to critical IT projects, including projects that were protecting Australians against cyberthreats. As a government that makes ends meet, the coalition can be trusted to deliver a strong and coordinated cybersecurity strategy for this nation.