Received

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 27 February 2023; Hits: 82

A new national cyber security co-ordinator will be appointed in a bid to better protect information held by businesses and government.

The government said the co-ordinator would oversee work being done to prevent online attacks, as well as help manage data breaches when they take place.

The announcement coincides with a cyber security roundtable being held in Sydney on Monday, hosted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with business and government leaders.

Mr Albanese told the meeting cyber security was a fundamental priority of the government and the co-ordinator would be key to addressing it.

"For businesses these days, cyber security is as important as having a lock on the door - you wouldn't leave your business at the end of the day and just leave the door open," he said.

"And that, essentially, is what will occur unless there is more diligence, and unless we upgrade the level of security."

A discussion paper has also been released, outlining a seven-year strategy that would aim to be in place from next year.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said having a co-ordinator in place earlier would have made a significant difference during last year's breaches of Optus and Medibank customer data.

"(One part of) this person's job will be to help manage cyber incidents in a proper, seamless strategic way across the Australian government," she told ABC radio.

The co-ordinator will be part of a new national office for cyber security within the Home Affairs department.

Advertising for the role will take place within coming months.

Ms O'Neil said the discussion paper would help to make Australia more cyber secure by the end of the decade.

She said current laws on cyber security were not up to scratch, as demonstrated by the Optus and Medibank breaches.

Changes being proposed at the roundtable include an update to the definition of what is a critical asset, along with steps business could take to prevent breaches.

Mr Albanese said state-sponsored cyber attacks were becoming more prevalent, including stealing classified information and using ransomware.

"Clearly, as it stands, government policies and regulations, business sector systems and our general awareness and capacity as a nation are simply not at the level that we need them to be."

Former Telstra chief executive Andy Penn, who chairs a Home Affairs advisory panel on cyber security, said there was a lot more Australia could do to combat online threats.

"Since COVID, we've seen a dramatic increase in the rate of digital adoption, and unfortunately, we've also seen a dramatic increase in the rate of cyber crime," he told ABC Radio.

"It's not a case ... of necessarily being behind anybody else. It's just we've got to keep up with this growing phenomenon and dirge of malicious activity we're seeing."

Mr Penn said law reform was needed.

"You could argue that things like the corporations law and consumer law and privacy law already implicitly covers cybersecurity incidents. But we need to do more to make that more explicit," he said.

"More does need to be done in a legislative sense on lifting our level of resilience."

Opposition spokesman James Paterson said if the government believed "extreme emergency powers" were needed in relation to businesses, it should explain why.

He said the government had made policy co-ordination worse by dividing responsibility for cybercrime between home affairs and the attorney-general's department.

"It is the government's responsibility to make sure this is co-ordinated and coherent and in one place, and if they keep moving it around they're making things harder for everyone," he said.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 27 February 2023; Hits: 77

Meg Lanning's champion Australian cricketers have won another global crown, successfully defending their women's T20 World Cup title with an emphatic 19- run victory over hosts South Africa in Cape Town.

Player of the match Beth Mooney's unbeaten 53-ball 74 did most to put the pressure on the South Africans in their first-ever World Cup final appearance on Sunday as the Australians, opting to bat, amassed 6-156 at Newlands.

Then Lanning's team bowled and fielded with clinical efficiency to largely always stay in control, as they ended up restricting the Proteas to 6-137 to lift the T20 global title for the third time in a row and the sixth time in the last seven editions.

Player of the Tournament Ashleigh Gardner delivered the stand-out all-round performance on the balmy afternoon in front of a sell-out crowd of 13,000 to hand Lanning a memorable win in her 100th T20I as captain.

Gardner first helped propel Australia with her 21-ball 29 and then defended 26 off the game's final over to finish with 4-0-20-1 and ensure her side completed a three-peat in 20-over World Cups.

Among a fine combined effort from the Australian bowlers, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown and Jess Jonassen also each took a key wicket as the Australians won a 13th world title in all in white-ball cricket.

Australia didn't notch up the victory at a canter, though. Laura Wolvaardt's 48-ball 61 and Shabnim Ismail's 4-1-26-2 inspired romantic hopes of an historic win for the first-time World Cup finalists South Africa.

Opener Wolvaardt had put the hosts within 48 runs of a win with her third straight fifty that anchored a 35-ball 55 partnership with Chloe Tryon.

But Schutt trapped Wolvaardt lbw in 17th over, leaving too much to do for Tryon, who fell for 25 off 23.

Earlier, Mooney's quickfire 15-ball 33 stand with No.6 Ellyse Perry (seven off 5 balls) ensured the defending champions scored 46 in the death overs.

The left-handed opener Mooney's clutch innings, reminiscent of her match-winning fifties in the finals of the 2020 T20 World Cup, the 2022 ODI World Cup and the Commonwealth Games final, again proved indispensable.

But, at one point, she was going so slowly, she admitted: "I actually asked one of the girls who ran out if she could ask Shell (head coach Shelley Nitschke) if she wants to retire me because I was hitting it that bad!

"That didn't quite make it to Shell ... but it just goes to show if you hang in there long enough and get the pace of the wicket...

"I probably didn't have a great plan through the middle there, stepping across and trying to hit it too square but once I stayed a bit still and hit a bit straighter, it wasn't too bad."

The Australian innings ended with a double-wicket 20th over from Ismail, who became the leading wicket-taker in women's T20 World Cup history with her 42nd strike in the tournament.

Gardner, promoted to Lanning's usual No.3 slot, had marshalled Australia from 1-36 in the powerplay after Alyssa Healy had been dismissed for a 20-ball 18 to double that run tally by the halfway mark.

Gardner's 41-ball 46-run second-wicket stand with Mooney, broke upon the introduction of Tryon as the 25-year-old holed out to long-off.

Tryon then took a superb catch at deep midwicket off a Lanning pull to reduce the opposition 4-122 with 17 balls left in the innings.

Australia amassed 34 off those deliveries. Mooney, who brought up her second successive half-century of this World Cup, off 44 balls, alone made 25 in that tally.

"People are looking out at us for what we do and how we go about it, so certainly it won't last forever," Mooney said of their title-winning spree.

"But we'll enjoy it for as long as we can and, hopefully, we can keep piling up those trophies and enjoying what's great."

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 27 February 2023; Hits: 100

There was laughter and tears as thousands gathered to remember the life of Olivia Newton-John.

Sunday's state memorial service at Melbourne's Hamer Hall came six months after the acclaimed performer and activist died aged 73.

She had been living with breast cancer for 20 years.

Newton-John should be remembered as a courageous person who genuinely cared about those around her, husband John Easterling said.

"Every day with Olivia was supernatural. Every day with Olivia was a bit of magic," he told the memorial service.

"At her most difficult times, she always had the spirit, the humour and the willpower to move things into the light."

Newton-John's daughter Chloe Lattanzi said her heart was broken in two.

"The other half is with my mamma," she said. "I know she is holding it for me until we meet again."

Australian performers, dignitaries and fans packed Hamer Hall for the service, while international stars Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey and Sir Cliff Richard were among those who sent video tributes.

Delta Goodrem, who played Newton-John in a 2018 miniseries, also held back tears as she performed a medley of the singer's greatest hits including Let's Get Physical and Xanadu.

Newton-John moved to Melbourne from the UK at a young age and showed an early passion for performance.

Her big break came when she played the role of Sandy in the 1978 film Grease.

The film, featuring hits including You're The One That I Want and Summer Nights, became the soundtrack for a generation and remains one of the most successful musicals of all time.

Newton-John's career spanned more than 60 years, during which she made 28 studio and six live albums.

She won four Grammys and had numerous number-one hits, selling more than 100 million records.

Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 and began fundraising for research and promoting cancer awareness.

A treatment and research hub in Melbourne, the Olivia Newton-John Wellness and Research Centre, opened in 2012 and its services have helped thousands.

"Olivia was a visionary," the centre's Debbie Shiell told the memorial service.

"What seemed so obvious to us now was actually ground-breaking at the time."

In 2019, Newton-John was appointed as a Companion of the Order of Australia and also named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Details: Written by Grant Broadcasters; Category: Received; Published: 27 February 2023; Hits: 79