Secret review into Medibank, Optus breaches unlikely to be made public

A secret report into the government’s handling of the Medibank and Optus data breach fallouts is unlikely to ever be made public.

A secret review commissioned by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the aftermath of the widespread Optus and Medibank data breaches is just one of “many” reviews not publicly announced.

Former high-ranking bureaucrat Mike Mrdak was in October tasked with examining the government’s response to the attacks, however the existence of the review was only made public following media reporting over the weekend.

Liberal senator Simon Birmingham used the Finance and Public Administration senate estimates on Monday to question why the probe was kept secret, noting how many people had been caught up in the attacks.

Bureaucrats from the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet said “many reviews” weren’t publicly announced.

A private review was commissioned to examine the government’s response to data breaches. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Millions of Australians were caught up in the Optus and Medibank data breaches. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

“It’s normal business to announce regular reviews. It’s really common practice to review what has happened and to do lessons learned exercises,” deputy secretary of national security and international policy Katrina Cooper said.

“It was considered to be prudent to have a good look at a lot of the issues that came out of those breaches, and have a look at how all of those issues were handled within the public service,” Ms Cooper said.

At the time of the attacks, Home Affairs and Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil was accused of being “missing in action”.

Anthony Albanese asked for the review. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Senator Birmingham asked for the report to be tabled, but was told that would be unlikely.

“The report is intended for the Prime Minister; it will be for the discussion of government, so we may not be able to table it,” Ms Cooper said.

“We’ll take that on notice.”

The report has been shared with other agencies.

Senator Penny Wong said she assumed the review would not be the last action the government took in response to the Optus and Medibank hacks.

“I think we all know that this – the Medibank and Optus data breaches – have made people painfully aware of the circumstances that we face and why more needs to be done,” Ms Wong said.

Ms Cooper confirmed the review had been commissioned by Mr Albanese on October 23 and that Mr Mrdak returned his findings just over a month later on November 29.

Department representatives said Ms O’Neil had been consulted throughout the process.

It is understood Mr Albanese is still considering the findings of the review.