What we learned today, Friday 21 October
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s what we learned:
The Liberals’ Senate leader, Simon Birmingham, has said that Greens senator Lidia Thorpe has “serious questions” to answer about her undisclosed relationship with a former bikie boss while she sat on parliament’s law enforcement committee.
Victorian towns along the Murray River are expected to experience the worst of expected flooding from Sunday.
The chair of the joint law enforcement committee, Helen Polley, has called for an investigation into Lidia Thorpe’s potential conflict of interest by sitting on the committee while in a relationship with a former bikie.
A coroner has concluded Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez is dead but was unable to determine the cause or manner of his death.
Energy Australia announced it has been the target of a “cyber incident” that has resulted in 323 customer accounts being breached.
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) said they “warmly” welcomed the government’s announcement of an additional $375m for aid and development to Pacific countries.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said floods would have an impact on GDP growth in next quarter, adding that fruit and veg prices will likely increase by 8%.
A toddler and three adults were taken to hospital after a car crashed into a childcare centre in Melbourne’s north.
The Albanese government will commit an additional $204m to protect, manage and restore the Great Barrier Reef, bringing the total spend on the reef to $1.2bn.
Updated
Energy Australia hacked
Energy Australia has announced it has been the target of a “cyber incident” that has resulted in 323 customer accounts being breached.
Those included in the breach include residential and small business accounts, with the company now forcing customers to implement a 12-character password for their accounts.
The data gathered include name, address, email address, electricity and gas bills, phone number, and the first six and last three digits of credit cards.
In a statement, Energy Australia says there is no evidence customer information was transferred outside its systems, and that information regarding sensitive documentation such as driver’s licences or passports, and banking information, have remained secure.
Energy Australia’s chief customer officer, Mark Brownfield, apologised for the situation:
We apologise for the concern that this issue may have caused our customers.
While this incident was limited in terms of customers affected, we take the security of customer information seriously and have been working hard to put in place additional layers of security to ensure the protection of all customer information.
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