Monday, July 3, 2017

Morning mail: Medicare card details for sale on darknet

Morning Mail

Morning mail: Medicare card details for sale on darknet

Tuesday: A vendor claims to have access to every Australian's Medicare card details and will sell them for $30. Plus, 43% of voters think Tony Abbott should quit

Medicare card
Medicare card details are for sale on the darknet Photograph: AAP

Eleanor Ainge Roy


Good morning, this is Eleanor Ainge Roy bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 4 July.

Top stories

A darknet vendor on a popular auction site for illegal products claims to have access to any Australian's Medicare card details and can supply them on request for $30. The seller is using a Department of Human Services logo to advertise their services, which they dub "the Medicare machine". The details are potentially valuable to organised crime groups, because they allow them to produce fake physical Medicare cards with legitimate information that can then be used for identification fraud.

The breach was uncovered shortly after the federal government passed mandatory data breach notification laws for government agencies and private companies. The government has suffered a series of embarrassing data breaches in recent years, most recently in 2015, when the personal details of world leaders at the G20 summit were accidentally disclosed by the immigration department.

The Guardian Essential poll has found nearly half of voters (43%) think Tony Abbott should resign from parliament. The survey found only 18% thought Abbott should be given a place in the Turnbull ministry. The poll found Labor has widened its lead over the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis, now standing at 53-47%, and support for marriage equality remained strong at 63%, with 25% opposed.

The French president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to transform his country in an unorthodox speech at Versailles. Macron called for an end to defeatism and "cynicism" in a rare address to both houses of parliament, and become emotional when discussing Brexit, saying ""We have never needed Europe more". Macron reiterated his key campaign proposals to change French labour laws, overhaul the workings of parliament and end the persistent inequality in France that still left people "imprisoned" by their "social origins". Some opposition MPs on the left boycotted the gathering in the regal setting, accusing Macron of a "monarchical" drift.

Mystery surrounds the future of the head of the Australian Border Force, Roman Quaedvlieg, who has suddenly taken leave amid an investigation into an undisclosed matter. The justice minister, Michael Keenan, confirmed Quaedvlieg's absence from official duties late on Monday. Quaedvlieg has been responsible for enforcing the tough border policies of the Coalition since the inception of the border force in 2015. The government has so far made no further statement about his absence.

The man who inspired millions of people around the world to pour buckets of icy water over themselves is alive, despite newspaper reports he had died. Peter Frates, 32, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), helped raise $100m for research into the neurodegenerative disease. On Monday Frates posted a 45-second video of himself in a hospital bed while Pearl Jam's Alive played in the background, after information was falsely leaked that he had died. Celebrities including Anna Wintour, Tom Cruise and Shakira took part in the challenge after it went viral in 2014. It raised more than $115m for ALS research and led to a significant research breakthrough.

Nick Kyrgios (AUS) with the trainer during his match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) on day one Wimbledon Tennis Championships,
Nick Kyrgios receives treatment during his match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert before retiring. Photograph: ddp USA/REX/Shutterstock/DDP USA/Rex/Shutterstock

Sport

Nick Krygios has been eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon after being forced to retire due to injury. The Australian was losing 3-6, 4-6 to Frenchman and world No70 Pierre-Hugues Herbert when a hip injury sustained from a fall at Queen's began to play up, forcing him to retire. Kyrgios went out with none of the tantrums or outbursts that have marked his career, saying only he was "a bit scared" of having surgery on his hip and would avoid it if possible.

ABC Grandstand's AFL commentary team has a 50-50 gender split this year – a first in AFL broadcasting – and, as Kate O'Halloran found out after spending a day in the box with them, the show's popularity is on the rise.

Thinking time

"Welcome to my backyard" – MJ Eberhart set out on a hike and never stopped walking. At 61 he has now walked millions of steps through America's rugged mountain ranges in what he calls "a desperate search for peace". Author Robert Moor joined him on the road between New Mexico and Florida, and tagged along for a few days. Moor writes: "We walked through the very land this philosophy had wrought. We drank tap water that stank of kerosene. We breathed car exhaust. We dined on frozen burritos and fried things from gas stations and diners ... I strung up my hammock between an electrical pole and a chain link fence bearing a sign that read: 'Warning: light hydrocarbon pipeline.'"

Intergenerational warfare? Please, the generations have never got along so well. But do we want a world in which your family determines whether you thrive? The real battleground is class, argues Dan Woodman.

Revelation Perth is Australia's strangest film festival, now in its 20th year. WA may be the only state that can get away with such quirky content: 10 days of programming where "zero budget" genre spoofs replete with explicit gore and nudity intermingle with family-friendly tributes to Jim Henson's Muppets and Daniel Ratcliffe starring as a flatulent corpse.

What's he done now?

Donald Trump has unexpectedly weighed in on the controversy around a terminally ill British baby, Charlie Gard, whose parents lost a legal fight this week to take him to the US for treatment of a rare genetic condition. Trump tweeted that if the US could help Charlie it would be "delighted to do so". Members of the Trump administration have talked to the 10-month-old's family, a White House spokeswoman said on Monday. "Our goal is not to pressure but simply to be helpful if possible in this very difficult and heartbreaking situation," deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Media roundup

The Age reveals that Melbourne's plans for a major new international airport to service the south-east of the city has secured backing and the $7bn proposal will be presented to the Victorian government next week. The Courier-Mail reports Brisbane's humble hero Jeff Horn is on track to become Australia's highest-paid sportsman. So far he has plans to splash out on a new car for his wife and get around to replying to Malcolm Turnbull's text message of congratulations. The ABC has a lengthy interview with the former prime minister Julia Gillard, who discusses her struggles with anxiety during her time in office, and Donald Trump's mental health.

Coming up

The inquest into 13 cases of youth suicide in the Kimberley will focus today on the effects of foetal alcohol syndrome disorder.

The Reserve Bank of Australia meets today, but economists are tipping it will leave interest rates unchanged.

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