NSW Labor is calling on the Government to ensure that taxpayer data subject to a contract between Optus and Service NSW is protected.
 
In August 2022, Optus was awarded a lucrative three-year multimillion dollar contract to manage the inbound service business for Service NSW. 
 
NSW Labor calls on the Liberal Government to ensure that all commercially sensitive and private customer data under this Optus contract is protected from hacking.
 
Under this Liberal Government, Service NSW has had a poor history when it comes to protecting taxpayers’ data. 
 
A major data breach back in early 2020 affected more than 100,000 taxpayers’ personal information and resulted in taxpayers having to fork out up to $35m to fix the problem.
 
Anoulack Chanthivong, NSW Shadow Minister for Finance, said:
 
“I urge the Liberal Government to immediately contact Optus about this lucrative multimillion dollar contract with Service NSW to ensure that strong measures are in place to protect taxpayers’ data from being hacked.
 
“The last thing NSW taxpayers need is for the Liberal Government through Service NSW to not properly manage this Optus contract and to underestimate the risks despite almost 10 million Australians having their personal details used as a ransom bargaining chip on the internet.
 
“Millions of dollars will be spent on this lucrative contract and every preventative measure must be undertaken to prevent data hacking and potentially millions more to be spent fixing the problem afterwards.”
 
Yasmin Catley, NSW Shadow Minister for Customer Service and Digital, said:
 
“The current situation is causing every Optus customer great anxiety in having their personal details hacked and the NSW Government should be no different.
 
“I urge the Liberal Government to take the potential risks in this contract seriously and work with Optus to prevent any inbound business services taxpayer data being hacked.”

ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG MP
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCE
 
YASMIN CATLEY MP
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE & DIGITAL