What we learned: Friday 3 May
That’s it for today, thanks for reading.
Here are the main stories for today:
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says he disagrees with a magistrate’s decision to release a former immigration detainee on bail and with the prosecutor’s decision not to oppose it. The man allegedly assaulted a woman in a home invasion eight weeks later;
The transport workers union urges Bonza administrators to ‘strain every sinew’ to pay employees’ wages, after the airline went into voluntary administration;
Family violence and sexual assault data of 4,000 Victorians collected over two decades by one of the state’s largest health services has been exposed;
The Flemington racecourse floodwall “most likely” caused houses to be inundated in 2022, an independent panel finds;
A NSW man is charged with blackmail after an alleged pubs and clubs data breach;
Sky News Australia apologises for its interview with the winner of a $1m barramundi competition;
A Victorian man arrested at a shopping centre after allegedly threatening people with a knife; and
The mayor of Blacktown city council in Sydney’s west, Tony Bleasdale, dies while reportedly on a flight home from China.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Updated
Data breach exposes family violence, sexual assault data
Family violence and sexual assault data of 4000 Victorians collected over two decades by one of the state’s largest health services has been caught up in a data breach, AAP reports.
Monash Health on Friday confirmed its involvement in a breach at external company ZircoDATA, which the health service used to scan archived historical documents.
The breach involved information from family violence and sexual assault support units at Monash medical centre, the Queen Victoria hospital and Southern Health from 1970 to 1993, the health service’s chief executive, Eugine Yafele, said.
Monash Health found out about the breach on 27 March, and believes it involves about 4000 people.
Asked why it took so long for the health service to make a public statement about the breach, Mr Yafele said Monash Health had to undergo a forensic investigation of its systems.
“Because of the passage of time and the sensitivity of the information we’re talking about, we absolutely needed to be sure that we are able to cross-check and get the right information,” he told ABC radio.
“It’s taken longer than I would have wanted.”
He said data accessed was “a range of stuff”, which could include names and addresses of its clients.
Monash Health’s systems have not been impacted.
“We are deeply disappointed to be in this position and understand the distress this may cause any impacted clients,” Mr Yafele said in an earlier statement.
“We take any matter involving cybersecurity extremely seriously.
“Our team is working tirelessly and diligently to verify those who are impacted and understand what data was compromised.”
Anyone who believes they may have been affected is asked to visit Monash Health’s website to register for updates or call its cyber breach support line.
Updated
