Cybersecurity

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:32): My question is again to the Treasurer. Does the Treasurer have a plan to secure the personal details of South Australian government employees?

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee—Treasurer) (14:32): The member might recall that not only did my previous answer mention that we have a central agency that tries to provide a policy framework and a consistent effort across government to secure information across government networks but recently, in the budget I released on 15 June, we provided a further $200 million for these efforts across government not only to harden the government's cybersecurity but also to rapidly escalate and accelerate the replacement of government ICT systems, some of which are very long in the tooth and, because of that, are often more exposed to cybersecurity threats.

So, yes, we do have a plan. That plan is being supported by hundreds of millions of dollars of additional new money, new investment, to make sure that we continue taking those steps to minimise these risks going forward. I should say to the house that every business operating in Australia at the moment is not only at risk but also under threat from these sorts of cybersecurity attacks.

They are incredibly sophisticated, they are incredibly damaging, they are sometimes incredibly expensive to rectify. That is why, within the first 18 months of coming into government, we have not only elevated this issue but made sure we are responding to it in a meaningful way and putting very substantial additional funding into those efforts.