Gavin Pearce (Braddon, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health, Aged Care and Indigenous Health Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of this very important motion brought forward by my good friend and parliamentary colleague the member for McPherson. She understands more than most, from her time as the Minister for Home Affairs, the grave concerns that this country faces. Like the former minister, I have experience in the importance of maintaining the security of our cyber and intelligence networks, albeit from a tactical signals intelligence and electronic warfare perspective. As the threat imposed increases exponentially, the need for strong, effective protections must remain and increase proportionately, or commensurate to the threat. The threat we face as a nation in terms of cybersecurity, espionage and the spread of misinformation is unparalleled. As a government, we understood this threat. It was the coalition that led the world in funding, legislating and implementing cybersecurity reforms. These reforms have now been adopted globally. It is imperative that the current government continue this legacy as the risks posed to our nation continue to evolve and have become more insidious.

The threat to Australia's sovereignty by state based operatives within our region has been publicised widely, while the steady encroachment of foreign entities into social media applications has not received the attention that it deserves. Millions of Australians have downloaded programs onto their devices. Some of these Australians are our most vulnerable—our younger people, our children. Apps such as TikTok and WeChat are, quite rightly, under increasing scrutiny by cybersecurity agencies. It's pleasing that the government has banned TikTok from government devices—a policy long championed by the coalition—but more needs to be done in this area.

Internet 2.0, an Australian and US joint cybersecurity organisation based here in Canberra, has produced a white paper looking into WeChat, which currently has in excess of 690,000 Australian users. Internet 2.0 found that data, including geographical location, login and device information, will be sent automatically to servers based in Hong Kong. As the former minister pointed out earlier, since 2017, national security laws in China have compelled businesses registered in Hong Kong to hand this data to intelligence agencies, effectively removing any sense of corporate independence. This, coupled with the fact that government procurement records show that at least 10 contracts were given to the Chinese department of propaganda to influence users, is concerning to say the least. It is for these reasons that it is absolutely essential that the government move to ban WeChat on government devices as a matter of priority.

Cyberattacks aren't just restricted to social media users; increasingly, Australian businesses have been subject to cyberattacks. The cyberattacks on large companies such as Optus, Medicare and the like have been well publicised, but attacks of this nature are occurring frequently across all business sectors and are increasingly more damaging and dangerous. The Australian Cyber Security Centre estimates that there has been a 13 per cent increase in cyberattacks to date. That increases by one cyberattack occurring every seven minutes. The financial burden that this is placing on our small and medium sized businesses is significant. Protecting Australian business is something that the coalition took very seriously during our time in government, investing a record $1.67 billion over 10 years to help secure Australian businesses.

The Albanese government has been entrusted with the most important responsibility of any government, and that is the safety of all Australian people and institutions. In an increasingly turbulent and unstable region, it is absolutely imperative that this government continues to build on and expand the legacy started by the coalition in securing our cyber and intelligence networks.

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