SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TRANSCRIPT

ABC RADIO NATIONAL, INTERVIEW WITH SALLY SARA

Thursday, 24 September 2026

Topics: Medicare data breach and government cybersecurity, AI oversight, proposed changes to the private health insurance rebate for over-65s and SA Liberal President.

E&OE……………………………………

Sally Sara: Let’s go to the opposition now. Anne Ruston is the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care and a Senator for South Australia. Senator, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

Senator Ruston: Good morning, Sally.

Sally Sara: How concerned are you about the revelations of this data breach?

Senator Ruston: Well, I mean, I think, obviously, we all should be concerned that it happened in the first place. And I think of as much concern to me is why we’re only finding out about it now, when obviously the government’s been aware of it for some time. So I think there are a lot of questions that the government needs to answer. And, you know, I’ll certainly be seeking a briefing from the government to find out who knew what, when and where, to understand the depth of what’s actually gone wrong here.

Sally Sara: Do you have concerns about Australia’s defences online—the fact that we had to wait to be notified by OpenAI, that the Australian Government’s defences didn’t know this had occurred?

Senator Ruston: Look, I think your question to the Acting Prime Minister just then was a very, very valid one, and that is: we need to understand what our government systems are capable of defending against, and we do need to have an audit of those government systems. Because the fact that this could happen is serious enough, but the fact we had to wait for OpenAI to actually advise the government that it had even happened is even more concerning.

Sally Sara: No personal information is believed to have been accessed at this stage, but investigations are ongoing. What does the opposition think needs to happen from here?

Senator Ruston: Well, as I said, the first thing I’ll be asking for this morning is a briefing from the department in relation to my portfolio area, which is health, and obviously the one that’s been impacted by this breach. But I think it goes wider than that. If we can have a breach of this nature into data in Medicare, what’s to say there can’t be breaches in other areas? So that’s why I think it’s incredibly important the government does an immediate audit to understand where its vulnerabilities are, so that Australians can have confidence in the systems the government has in place to protect their information and protect our nation.

Sally Sara: Should there be some kind of penalty for OpenAI to take responsibility for what’s occurred here?

Senator Ruston: Well, obviously, the first thing I’d like to know is exactly what has occurred. And then, obviously, once we know, appropriate action can be taken. But I know no more than what we’ve discussed this morning, what I’ve heard this morning and what I’ve read in the papers. As I said, I’m concerned, but I need more information.

Sally Sara: As you’re saying, this is in your shadow portfolio. Do you know much about this data portal for Medicare, with its statistics? Is it something that you use regularly?

Senator Ruston: No, not at all. I mean, obviously, we’re well aware of the information that the government collects to make sure that it’s in a position to provide information to patients, so that billing systems are in place, and they’re all very important pieces of information. But I think Australians will be very concerned to know that information has been seen in this breach, so it hasn’t been protected. Obviously, the Minister says the information that was accessed is not highly sensitive information, but we’d like to know what the information they accessed actually was. And, obviously, if they can access that information, what other information can be accessed by the same means?

Sally Sara: How do you see the broader context here? Does this mean there should be further guardrails more generally on OpenAI? By the sounds of what we were getting from the Acting Prime Minister then, this OpenAI agent was given a relatively simple task to access some statistical information, and it decided to tunnel into a portal in this way.

Senator Ruston: Well, as I say, I don’t know a great deal about what’s happened here, and so I’m a little loath to go into specifics on this. But I think, to your broader question, the government has to be very transparent about how it is using, you know, AI models and algorithms. And there couldn’t be a better example than what we found out just recently: that the government, when it came to assessing older Australians for their care needs, is using a computer-generated algorithm. They actually knew there was no capacity for human override but didn’t tell Australians, and pushed on with it regardless. So I think there are some questions the government needs to answer about what they are actually doing and what information they’re not providing to Australians about the processes they have in place.

Sally Sara: Senator, you’re joining the program this morning from Perth, where a Senate inquiry into the federal government’s proposal to wind back the private health insurance rebate for Australians over 65 heard from medical specialists, insurance companies and government departments yesterday. What’s the most striking evidence you’ve heard in the past 24 hours?

Senator Ruston: Well, I think the take-home message from all of the inquiries into the private health insurance rebate changes for people over 65 is that it plainly doesn’t have a friend anywhere, apart from the government’s insistence that it push on with the cost saving it’s proposing to get from this measure. We heard from older Australians about the impact it would have on their lives, the choices they’d have to make: you know, not turning the heating on in winter or the cooling on in summer, not buying the kids Christmas presents, because they were so scared to drop their private health insurance because they relied on it so much. We heard from the medical bodies, who said they were really worried that, by being pushed into the public system, people wouldn’t get access to that care. And some of them even suggested that people could die as a result of being put on waiting lists that are never-ending. So it was pretty sobering testimony that we heard again yesterday from people here in Perth. And I think the government would do well to listen to the fact that over half the people and over half the savings are going to come from the pensioners of Australia. These are people who are unable to afford an increase on top of the cost-of-living crisis they’re already living through.

Sally Sara: You’re listening to Radio National Breakfast. You’re hearing from Senator Anne Ruston, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care and Liberal Senator for South Australia. Senator, your Liberal colleague Alex Antic has been appointed president of the SA Liberals. What does this mean for the direction of the party?

Senator Ruston: Well, Alex has been appointed to an administrative role that’s largely focused on the governance of the party machine, fundraising, membership management and the like. And it’s a huge job; it’s a really huge job. And obviously, he’s got another job being a Senator for South Australia and representing South Australians in the parliament, so he’s going to be very, very busy. But Alex has been in control of the South Australian division of the party for the last two years. So I don’t see there’s a great deal of change that he’s going to make coming into this position, but I just hope he does a very good job of it.

Sally Sara: What do you mean by “in control of the party” for the past two years?

Senator Ruston: Alex has had the numbers in the party division, as opposed to the parliamentary division, for the last two years, which means he’s been in control of decisions that relate to the administration of the South Australian Liberal Party in the administrative division.

Sally Sara: Would it be wise for the Liberal Party in South Australia to cooperate and move closer to One Nation in fighting elections?

Senator Ruston: Look, I think the leader, Angus Taylor, has been very clear that there is no merger. And what I’m focused on at the moment is actually dealing with the issues that I think South Australians and Australians are most worried about. And they’re issues about how they can afford to pay their bills, quite frankly. So I’m not going to be focused on what the election of the president of the South Australian division of the Liberal Party is likely to mean. I don’t think it’s going to mean terribly much, and I’m just going to focus on the job that the South Australian people have elected me to do.

Sally Sara: Anne Ruston, we’ll need to leave it there. Thank you for joining me this morning.

Senator Ruston: Thanks Sally.

ENDS

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