Technology experts have warned that the discovery of an artificial intelligence agent hacking internal Medibank systems will not be the only dangerous breach of government data. They have called on Australia to strengthen its protection against the growing risk.
As they note, artificial intelligence can now identify vulnerabilities faster than they can be tracked and faster than they can be patched. They assessed that the cyber security of Service Australia was "woefully inadequate".
Independent Senator David Pocock stated, appearing on the ABC's Afternoon Briefing, that the recent breach using an artificial intelligence agent raises serious questions about Australia's regulation of artificial intelligence. According to him, the incident highlights the need for the government to introduce a law on artificial intelligence safety.
Pocock said that experts have been calling for action for years and that the crossbench is pressing the government. He added that the government has announced it will implement certain protective measures and place them on the website, which, in his view, is not enough.
In warnings about data security, new data from Cotality shows that Generation Z in Australia is the generation most willing to significantly reduce spending to afford a home. Meanwhile, in Sydney, an investigation is underway after a police officer died in a traffic accident in the inner western part of the city, with the commissioner paying tribute to the young police officer.
In New South Wales, under new laws, tenants will be required to provide a driver's licence and passport only when signing a lease agreement, rather than providing them with each application for rent.
A parliamentary committee in Queensland reviewing the bill to abolish the ban on lawsuits by victims of sexual abuse against certain employers decided not to hear from any surviving victims. The bill was introduced last year by state MP Meaghan Scanlon. It overturns a High Court ruling from 2024 which determined that the Catholic Church was not legally responsible for the actions of priests as they were not direct employees; the ruling applied to all other employers. Similar legislation has already passed the parliaments of Victoria and the ACT.
The Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee held a two-hour hearing on the bill today, and the committee, chaired by a government representative, decided to hear only from lawyers. A survivor of abuse, Diane Carpenter, said she was devastated that she was not allowed to be heard in the inquiry and called for the bill to be passed. She said that if the bill were not passed, many adults who had been abused in institutional care as children would not have access to justice.
A new date for the trial was set for the British national involved in the rape of a fan in a hotel, after the jury failed to reach a verdict, as reported by AAP. Rapper Yung Filly, legally known as Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, faced trial in July for an encounter with a 20-year-old woman in 2024 following a performance at a nightclub in Perth. The 31-year-old man was found guilty of two counts of assault and acquitted of three charges of sexual penetration following a trial in the Western Australian district court in July. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on three other counts of sexual penetration, and the man will be retried on those charges. He did not need to be present when the case was returned to court on Friday, with the new trial scheduled for 2027. The trial, which begins on 15 June in the same court, is expected to last eight days. The judge had previously allowed Barrientos to amend his bail to travel home to the United Kingdom while awaiting the retrial. He is believed to have left Perth in late August.
In Victoria, where polling numbers are poor, the government hopes that something universally loved, like dogs, will help. The government is promising to change the rules to allow people to bring their dogs into pubs.
