Interview with ABC Radio AM - National Cyber Security Coordinator, Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, CSC
25 September 2026
RACHAEL MEALEY: Lieutenant General McGuinness, do you have information that this breach is more widespread? We know about Medicare and a handful of government websites. Are there any more?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: Oh, good morning, Rachel. There's no evidence currently available that indicates that there's a broader compromise to Services Australia Network or other systems.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Are you worried about the vulnerability of the government's IT defences to these increasingly intelligent agents?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: Look, I think this is a very dynamic technology space and we should neither be panicked nor complacent. It's really important that we understand the technology and that we continue to build our security and our resilience, which, of course, is a journey to ensure that we can protect our services and protect our systems.
RACHAEL MEALEY: You are a senior officer in the Australian army and you're trained to know everything you can about an enemy. How is AI different?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: Well, I'm not sure it is completely different. We're working incredibly closely with our industry partners and our international partners. You know, I think that's one of the powers of the Australian cyber ecosystem in that we are really strongly connected across our technology leaders who often see and adopt these emerging technologies and understand them. It's really important that we do work very closely, particularly with the Frontier AI Labs, in order to understand the threat and to be able to both leverage those capabilities and also defend against them.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Are our systems strong enough to defend us from the next AI breach?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: Our systems are strong and we have great advice. Our technical authority, the Australian Signals Directorate, tells us that the foundations that we've been communicating across the economy, across governments and across industry are still the most important things that everyone can do in this era of AI but it's really important that we continue to strengthen our cyber security posture and build our resilience. We know that we're not going to stop every attack. The important part is that we remain resilient through them, that we identify them and that we prevent harm, mitigate the consequences.
RACHAEL MEALEY: When did you learn of this Medicare and government agencies breach?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: I learnt on the weekend, the 19th of September.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Was that soon enough?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: Look, there is a lot of discussion around the timelines. We need to adjust the timelines. We need to do better. We needed to be informed sooner of this incident. The systems that are set up have been designed for humans who find vulnerabilities to notify government. This is a very fast-moving space, and we've already engaged very closely with OpenAI on their notification processes to absolutely reduce that time.
RACHAEL MEALEY: What does that mean? OpenAI in this instance sent an email about this attack to a generic email address. What have you done to improve those reporting lines?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: It means engaging directly with both victims and with the government and with technical authorities, engaging quickly and early to ensure that we understand what's happened and that we can understand how to prevent harm.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Won't your role be constantly frustrated by an inability to exert any power over foreign tech giants?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: Look, I try not to be frustrated. It is a very fast-moving space, and we are working to be as agile as we can. The important part is that we build and strengthen our system so that we're not constantly reacting, but that we are strong and resilient to these threats and then partnering with industry to ensure that we understand the new technologies that are evolving, both to adopt them for our own purposes and defences and opportunities that they bring, but also to defend against any emerging threats.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Do you think it's now more urgent for the Australian Government to legislate AI standards?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: I think standards are incredibly important as we move forward and adopt this technology and secure ourselves and build our resilience, both using the technology and defending against threats.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Are we shouting into the wind?
MICHELLE MCGUINNESS: I don't think so. I think this is a really important thing, and we'll do it together with our industry partners and with other like-mindeds.
RACHAEL MEALEY: Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, thanks for joining. AM.
