Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Ciccone. You're right; this is a matter of great concern to all Australians. Australians expect when they hand over their personal data that every effort will be made to keep it safe from harm. We know that millions of Australians have been impacted by the Optus data breach. This data breach, let's be clear, should not have happened. It involved the release of Australian citizens' names, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, residential addresses, and, for some customers, passport and drivers' licence numbers being for sale on the dark web—completely unacceptable.

As the government, we were incredibly concerned this morning about further reports that personal information from the Optus data breach also includes Medicare numbers. Medicare numbers were never advised to have formed part of compromised information from this data breach. Optus has a clear obligation to notify affected individuals and the Australian Information Commissioner when a data breach involving personal information is likely to result in serious harm. Consumers also have a right to know exactly what individual personal information has been compromised in Optus's communications to them.

Yesterday the Minister for Home Affairs called on Optus to provide more support to impacted customers. I was pleased that Optus made a commitment to provide free credit monitoring to impacted consumers. This will help protect consumers against identity theft as a result of this breach. I know all my government colleagues are of the same view. The government expects Optus to continue to work with customers to help them understand the impact on them and what Optus can do to help. Optus owes the Australian public a full explanation—nothing less.