9th Aug 2017, 4:22 PM – Senate Committees - Finance and Public Administration References Committee - Compromised personal Medicare information

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Victorian Senator Richard Di Natale (Greens), which means it passed and the matter will be reported for inquiry.

Motion text

That the following matter be referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 16 October 2017:

Circumstances in which Australians' personal Medicare information has been compromised and made available for sale illegally on the 'dark web', including:

(a) any failures in security and data protection which allowed this breach to occur;

(b) any systemic security concerns with the Department of Human Services' (DHS) Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) system;

(c) the implications of this breach for the roll out of the opt-out My Health Record system;

(d) Australian government data protection practices as compared to international best practice;

(e) the response to this incident from government – both ministerial and departmental;

(f) the practices, procedures, and systems involved in collection, use, disclosure, storage, destruction, and de-identification of personal Medicare information;

(g) the practices, procedures, and systems used for protecting personal Medicare information from misuse, interference, and loss from unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure; and

(h) any related matters.