Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has appointed a new minister for Home Affairs and cyber security. Tony Burke will take responsibility and immigration and multicultural affairs; creativity; and the leader of the House.
The cabinet reshuffle announced on Sunday comes two years after Clare O’Neil was appointed and held cybersecurity as an independent portfolio. There have also been numerous cyber attacks and data breaches during that time, including four of the biggest in Australian history – Optus, Medibank, Latitude and MediSecure.
Albanese has also appointed Andrew Charlton as special ambassador for cyber security and digital resilience. At a press conference the Prime Minister said: “This will be a special exercise that I have discussed with Andrew, and with Tony Burke, the Minister for Cyber Security, and Michelle Rowland, the Minister for Communications, about how Australia, and indeed the world, is going through a lot of issues where technology is changing the way how we relate to each other, how our society works. This is something that requires someone outside of the day job to think about how Australia is positioning itself to not only avoid some of the negative outcomes that exist, but also see the positive opportunities that exist.”
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