November 9, 2022
JAMES PATERSON: Good afternoon. The worst fears of Medibank customers and the worst case scenario has unfortunately played out today. The hackers have made good on their threat and appear to have uploaded genuine customer data to the dark web. This will be a very stressful day for Medibank customers and my focus today is on them.
It's very important if Medibank customers are being contacted by anyone who is purporting to have access to their data, that they immediately report that to the Australian Cyber Security Centre at cyber.gov.au. If they have any other concerns, they can also contact Medibank directly on the direct number they have established and notified their customers of. It's important that Medibank customers are vigilant, that they watch out for any suspicious activity on any of their accounts, including their bank accounts, and if they notice any, they should contact their bank. They should also be wary of any suspicious activity on their email or other accounts. If necessary, I hope the government provides an avenue for new Medicare numbers to be issued for any affected customers who have had their Medicare numbers released.
It's critically important to not assume if you are contacted by anyone that they are genuinely representing the hackers. It may well be someone who is seeking to piggyback off this exercise, and even if they do genuinely have access to your data, there is absolutely no guarantee that paying a hacker will ensure that it is protected. The best and most important thing you can do is work closely with Australia's cyber security experts and our law
enforcement agencies to ensure that you report any suspicious contact you receive and they will provide you advice about how to go forward.
As I said, my focus today is on Medibank customers and what has happened to them. I have been critical in the past about the slow government response to this issue, but that's something we can deal with in due course once we've got through what is now a very serious and very immediate crisis.
One thing that I will do today, though, is call on the government to initiate a genuinely independent review into the government's own response to the Optus and Medibank attack. Unfortunately, I think the world we are now living in, this is the new normal. There will be further attacks like this and it's important that the government learns the lessons from this crisis to ensure that any future crisis like this that occurs that the government response can be improved from what we saw in this attack. Very happy to take any questions.
QUESTION: On the counter foreign influence, we've heard reports this morning that Defence has launched an official review. They said there's enough evidence to be concerned, that's why the Defence Minister has launched an official review. How concerning are these allegations and when you were in government and on the national security committee, have you seen anything like this? Is this the first that you're hearing of it?
PATERSON: The reports today, in particular, the press conference this morning by the Deputy Prime Minister indicates the government is taking seriously. The allegations of potential cooperation by former ADF personnel with the People's Liberation Army are very serious. Now, Shadow Minister for Defence Andrew Hastie has put out a statement about that. The Opposition will be very constructive about this, and we appreciate the offer of a briefing from the Minister for Defence. We'll be taking up that offer. I'll be careful about what else I say about that until we've had the benefit of that briefing. But we have said if there are any changes to the law that are necessary to ensure that this does not happen again, we will support it.
QUESTION: In Senate estimates, this morning talking about the cancelled French submarine contract. We heard also, in fact in the last couple of days, that there's been an extra $300 million [indistinct] and an extra $290 million to retrain employees and staff. Was this made public at all by the Morrison government [indistinct]. Does this hit you by surprise in terms of the most recent budget?
PATERSON: I wasn't in Senate estimates today when that issue was discussed. I have been spending some time in that committee. I'll be returning back there this afternoon, but I'm not across the detail of that. I don't want to comment on the fly. So, I encourage you to take that up with our relevant shadow minister.
QUESTION: You've called for a genuinely independent review of the government's response to the Optus and Medibank hack. What does genuinely independent look like?
PATERSON: I think it's important that it's conducted by someone who is impartial and arm's length from the government so that they can provide genuine feedback. And they're not someone who is involved in any way in coordinating the government response. An eminent and respected cyber security expert from outside of government will be well-placed to take that up. I'll leave it to the government to decide if they wish to do this, who that should be. But I think it is important that Australians can have confidence in the results of the review, that it's not a review that's conducted in-house and it is a review at the least, which the top line findings or an executive summary which can be made public.
QUESTION: Anthony Albanese going to G20 and ASEAN. What do you reckon?
PATERSON: Sorry?
QUESTION: What do you reckon? Anthony Albanese going to G20 and ASEAN?
PATERSON: It's certainly appropriate for the Prime Minister to represent Australia at important international multilateral forums. Thanks everyone.
QUESTION: Can I just ask one more question?
PATERSON: Sure.
QUESTION: Given the ASPI report at the start of the week about China targeting vulnerable women in the media, are you aware of this, particularly targeting Australian women? Do you have any numbers in terms of I guess attacks against Australians?
PATERSON: That was certainly a very troubling report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Monday. It used case studies to illustrate by example and that involved one Australian. I know there are other Australians have been similarly targeted online and I think this does open up the question of the next steps in legislative reform on foreign interference. Australia led the world in 2018 when we passed our espionage and foreign interference legislation. That was very welcome. But cyber enabled foreign interference presents a
unique problem. And so, I think it's important the government considers what additional legislation could be appropriate there.
QUESTION: Apologies if this was asked before but on the prospect of a meeting between Albanese and the Chinese leadership, the government keeps talking about stabilising the relationship. What, in your view, does that look? Where would that stabilisation be and [indistinct].
PATERSON: The Opposition would certainly welcome a meeting between President Xi and the Prime Minister. We think it was unfortunate that in recent years the Chinese government refused to have any bilateral meetings with their Australian counterparts. It is part of normal, healthy bilateral relations, even when countries have differences that we meet, and we have an opportunity to discuss and exchange views. I think that will be a very welcome thing. As to what the stabilisation of the relationship looks like, I'll leave the government to articulate what the end state is that they're seeking and perhaps that's something that the Foreign Minister will articulate at Senate estimates tomorrow.
QUESTION: If the Prime Minister can meet with his counterpart, do you think he needs to raise his concerns about the [indistinct] defence investigation?
PATERSON: I'll leave it with the Prime Minister to decide exactly what he raises in any bilateral meeting with President Xi. But of course, it is appropriate in bilateral meetings to raise any issues of concern in the bilateral relationship for example, the detained Australians who are currently not being released in China. We're very concerned about those. I hope the Prime Minister raises issues such as that, as well as the unjustified trade sanctions against Australia. Thank you everyone.
ENDS
