Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

If only it were so easy that the failure to govern properly could be simply dismissed in that way. The reality is: you failed to act on so many issues, including the Privacy Act, and in relation to cybersecurity more broadly. As a consequence of the previous government's failures on this front, Australia is less prepared for and less resilient to cyberattacks than we should have been. You would know that, Senator Paterson, because you are one of the people on that side who understands some of the issues of national security and some of the complexity. You would know that the previous government did not pay sufficient attention to this issue. You would know, for example, that there were recommendations made, which the privacy commissioner has talked about, to strengthen the regulatory framework to provide additional rights for Australians to protect their personal information, and it does not appear that they were acted upon.