Tim Watts: The government cites this Online Safety Bill as evidence of its commitment to the online safety of Australian women. I say to the House that you can see the commitment of the government to the online safety of women in this country every day in this chamber: when they are given an option to condemn the actions of the member for Bowman and they refuse. You can see the evidence of their...
Read More >Tim Watts: I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The Morrison government never misses an opportunity for a dramatic press conference on cybersecurity, but it has gone missing when called on to act on the biggest cyberthreat facing Australian organisations-ransomware. With this bill, Labor is showing the political leadership on cybersecurity policy that has been missing since the...
Read More >Tim Watts: Yesterday saw an overdue but welcome decision from the Morrison government in the case of the Murugappan family-the Biloela family, as they've become known around the country-Priya, Nades, Tharunicaa and Kopika, a Tamil family from Sri Lanka who have been in detention on Christmas Island since 2019. Many of my constituents have contacted me about this family's case for several...
Read More >Tim Watts: On Tuesday of this week the Assistant Minister for Defence released new figures indicating that ransomware reports to the Australian Cyber Security Centre had increased by 200 per cent. In response, he announced an awareness campaign and called on Australian organisations to lift their cyberdefences in the face of increasingly sophisticated and well-resourced Russian ransomware groups....
Read More >Tim Watts: Credibility, like integrity, is something that you build over time through actions, not words. That's a problem for this Prime Minister, particularly when it comes to fringe conspiracy theories and extremist ideologies. This is a prime minister who always seems to be conspiracy adjacent, a PM who always seems to want weirdos in the room with him. Last night's Four Corners episode told...
Read More >Tim Watts: This week ransomware became a literal barbeque stopper when JBS Foods, Australia's largest meat processor, was paralysed by a ransomware attack mounted by Russian cybercriminals. All beef and lamb kills along the east coast of Australia were cancelled. It might not be immediately obvious, but the meat business is heavily reliant on IT systems for record keeping, regulatory documentation,...
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