Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to speak on this resolution. It is an important resolution that has been moved by a member of parliament who has expressed views about this, has had concerns about this and has thought a lot about this. It was very good that she brought it to the parliament.

I want to expand on a point that was made by the member for Gellibrand—he did it in a lot more of a diplomatic way than I will—which is that this is an important issue, particularly for members of parliament that are setting a policy on this. Our side has stumped up with a number of members to actually speak on this. We had to have the mover of the resolution speak on this a number of times. Why? Because none of those opposite, who are in government and who have more MPs than us, could be bothered to speak on this resolution. That, of itself, is a problem. And here is why: we need—as the member for Gellibrand rightly reflected in his contribution—more MPs to be thinking about this. The more MPs realise that they are vulnerable and the more that they realise it in the areas where they become more and more responsible—for example, when moving from being MPs to actual ministers—then they have to make decisions that will potentially impact or deal with some of the issues that are at the very heart of what we are discussing here.

What the member for Forrest has raised is really important. It is something that occupies the minds of parents across the country and, I dare say, a lot of parents who are in this building. It is important that we support initiatives that concern the way in which young Australians, and particularly those that are impressionable, engage with technology. There is not a parent in the country who does not see their young kids already embracing technology very early in their life. You can see two-year-olds—I see it with my own son, but you see it with others—that embrace technology and can navigate around it. When you see a four-year-old using Siri on an iPad, you know that they are starting to become a lot more au fait and comfortable with technology. I completely endorse this resolution and what is behind it in terms of the way that the member for Forrest addressed that, as well as the other members who have contributed in this.

Moving beyond cybersecurity and moving into the broader issue of digital transformation within government, the problem is that a lot of MPs do not engage. There is a lot at stake financially, and also from a security perspective, if they do not do it. We need more and more interest in it.

Again, as the member for Gellibrand rightly pointed out, you could name a number of different attacks and a number of different players on the international stage who are knowingly exploiting vulnerabilities in a way that would cause governments and politicians grief. Elsewhere we have seen, as has been reflected most prominently in the US election, this being done in a way that could potentially impact or influence the outcome of those elections while we are blithely walking along thinking that it will not happen to us—until we get tripped up. We need ministers around the cabinet table who are actively engaged in making decisions that will protect governments, departments and businesses. Also, it is hard for us to say to businesses, 'You need to take this seriously,' if the people who are sending that message are not doing it themselves at a government level. That needs to be done as well.

We have been critical, too. To her great credit, Prime Minister Gillard moved to build on some of the work in cybersecurity from a government perspective, releasing some of the initiatives and the strategies that we wanted to see in this place. We have had a lot of talk out of this government, but it has taken a very long period of time to act on it. It took a long time to appoint key personnel into positions regarding cybersecurity, and there are still concerns about how fast government is moving on this. I think that is something that needs to be pursued here but, again, if you cannot get interest from the government—from its own MPs—to support a resolution like this and to step up today, you have to wonder whether or not that is reflected at senior levels as well. They might have some people appointed to it, but there is only one. You rarely hear many of the others actually working on it.

I also wonder why we have an assistant minister focused on this area and why we also have another body in the DTA. It has now set up its own cybersecurity arm within it—all to make it look like they are doing a lot. We are asking the question, 'How effective is it?' It would be great to have a clear, concise demonstration of will being directed to outcome, so that we do not have more of this happening and impacting on government. But, again, I do commend the member for Forrest for raising this. This is very important for us to focus on.

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