Shannon Deery: Andrews government has turned spinning bad info into an art form

VicRoads’ response to the Optus data hacks has once again reminded Victorians that we are living in spin city.

In the fallout of the Optus data breach we are again reminded that Victorians live in spin city.

Lest there be any doubt, look no further than leaked talking points regarding the VicRoads victims of the hack.

Almost 10 million Australians were affected in the hack that exposed vast amounts of personal information and documents including passports, Medicare numbers and driver’s licences.

At least 140,000 Victorians are believed to have had their licence details stolen.

Details from a driver’s licence, along with other stolen information, could allow criminals to commit serious identity or financial offences.

The Victorian figure dwarfs all other states, and suggests we were hit hardest by the breach.

Yet more than a week on from the hack, affected Victorians are still unable to change their licence details. And there appears no quick fix in sight.

Almost 10 million Australians were impacted as part of the Optus data hack. Picture David Clark

Try going to a VicRoads centre to do it and you’ll be turned away with the same old details and directed to an online form.

On Friday, Victoria’s Transport Department blamed Optus, saying the telco had “not been forthcoming” in telling it which motorists might need their licences replaced.

“This is an Optus data breach, not a VicRoads data breach. Optus has still not been forthcoming with data regarding all customers who may have been affected,” a spokesman said.

“Given the seriousness of the Optus data breach, we are moving as quickly as possible to help protect Victorians by replacing licences for free, however, Victoria has been affected more than any other state or territory across the country.

“As an additional protection for Victorians, we are working to flag the records of the large volume of people who have registered their information with us through the VicRoads website.”

The spokesman said due to the high volume of registrations, this process may take longer as a team worked through each individual form.

All these statements may be true. But they are also spin.

Because what the transport mouthpiece did not disclose was the real problem plaguing licence renewals. That is, there is no process to deal with the problem.

Leaked talking points prepared to deal with pesky media inquiries showed that while affected licences were being “flagged”, that actually would not produce action.

Leaked talking points revealed the depth of the problem facing Victorians who may need a licence replacement. Picture: Kiel Egging.

Five pages of anticipated questions and prepared answers pre-empting media queries detailed the depth of the problem.

Flagging licences means only that any unauthorised changes to licences will be blocked. In other words, if a licence is flagged, VicRoads will run extra identity checks if someone seeks to make any changes to its details.

Changes can still be made, and if you’re a hacker with vast amounts of personal information to hand, this may not be too hard.

Flagging is also not immediate and requires manual input. Have we learnt nothing from the days of contact tracing using pen, paper and fax machine?

This is information the spin doctors preferred us not to know. According to the talking points memo, it was to be divulged only “if pressed”.

We also learn, by way of these talking points, that if hacked data is used to, say, apply for a bank loan, the bank would be not notified.

As you were, hackers.

Those paid to prepare such talking points would argue they are not intended as a smokescreen, that they are prepared simply to equip a minister, department official or spokesman with a script to keep on message.

But that’s the precise problem. Sometimes it should be about more than just the message.

Daniel Andrews has turned spinning bad info into an art form. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Just last month we learnt the Andrews government spent more than any other state on advertising in the first half of 2022.

Not only did it outspend other governments, it also outspent Harvey Norman, Woolworths, News Corp, Wesfarmers and Nine Entertainment.

On top of that, Victoria boasts more ministerial staffers than any other state. The last official figures showed it employed 286 full-time equivalent ministerial staffers.

A massive 86 of them report directly to the Premier’s private office.

And that doesn’t even include departmental spinners. You can add a couple of hundred more of those.

The government has turned spinning bad info into an art form. Say something enough times and it might become true.

Take Daniel Andrews’ repeated claims over his proposed renaming of Maroondah Hospital to Queen Elizabeth II hospital.

In response to a fierce backlash over the move – which even some Labor sources considered a mistake – the Premier has been batting away critics by repeatedly claiming this is a brand new hospital with a brand new name.

His press release announcing the move on September 18 seemed pretty clear on what was to happen. The government would “redevelop and expand the Maroondah Hospital at Ringwood, and re-name it in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II”.

Of course, we expect spin from politicians.

But we must always question what we’re being told and why.

It’s even more critical on the eve of a state election. Because between now and November 26 we’ll be bombarded with promises, pitches and, in all likelihood, part-truths. It’s par for the course in Spin City.