The Hon Clare O'Neil
Minister for Cyber Security, Minister for Home Affairs
The Albanese Labor Government is today again reiterating its requests that Optus cooperate with Government agencies to help us help Australians who are caught up in the recent Optus data breach.
Services Australia wrote to Optus on September 27 asking for the full details of all affected customers with Services Australia credentials exposed, such as Medicare cards and/or Centrelink Concession Cards.
Services Australia will use that information to place additional security measures on affected customer records, as required. It will also use the information to prevent future fraud.
To date, there have been no impacted customer details provided by Optus in relation to this request.
In the face of a breach on an unprecedented scale in Australia, Optus needs to come together with the Australian Government to be part of the solution.
Quotes attributable to the Hon Bill Shorten, Minister for Government Services and NDIS:
"Services Australia stands ready to protect the privacy of customers who have had their private information compromised."
"Services Australia has been working around the clock to help protect customers, but we need Optus to help us help Australians."
"This was a breach that should never have happened."
"We all carry a Medicare card around in our wallet, so it is no surprise that Australians are deeply concerned about what has happened here."
Quotes attributable to the Hon Clare O'Neil, Minister for Cyber Security and Home Affairs:
"Optus needs to communicate clearly to the Australian Government, and to their customers, about exactly what information has been taken regarding specific individuals."
"This will enable us to make sure that those 10 million Australians who have had some of their personal information stolen are not at risk of some type of financial crime or online fraud."
"The Albanese Government is completely focused on trying to protect all those people affected by the theft of their information which is unprecedented in Australian history."
"This is a security breach that should not have occurred, but what's really important here is that we row in the same direction and do everything we can to stop financial crime against Australians."
"We urge Optus do everything it can to provide our agencies with the information they need to help us do that."
