STATE RECORDS

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General advise if it is standard practice for all computers used in ministerial offices to undergo a full data wipe, called a DBAN, when there is a change of ministerial responsibilities?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:33): Yes; again, I thank the honourable member for his question. The issue about the wiping of computers is one that has somehow got conflated with other issues in the conversation that has been occurring recently, and I would like to just explain what this is about. If we have a piece of equipment—a computer—which was used, say, by the member for Unley, and the member for Unley had put a lot of his work on there and then the member for Unley got a new computer and somebody said, 'Well, look, we're not going to get rid of the member for Unley's computer because it is still a very good computer,' the question is, is it appropriate that if I pick up the member for Unley's computer, I get all the member for Unley's information? That is what it is about.

Mr Pisoni: That is not the question.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: No, I am saying, as I understand it—

Mr Goldsworthy interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Kavel is warned for the first time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: As I understand it—and this is not specifically a State Records issue; this is to do with the information security office or some other agency—they actually run the government security issues and, for security reasons, it is the idea that, if people lose control of a computer by reason, for example, of their having moved office or something, it is appropriate that the data on that computer, which might be very particular to them and might be very sensitive, is wiped. That is a completely separate issue about whether or not anything happens to that data before it is wiped.