Tag Archives: oceania

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Victorian premier pledges VCE support for flood-affected families

More than 80 schools across Victoria are closed due to the ongoing flooding crisis as thousands of VCE students begin to prepare for exams.

As a result, Premier Daniel Andrews has said flood-affected students will receive assistance and support for their end-of-school exams.

He said the "derived examination scores" would be approved on a case-by-case basis, and would help take the pressure off students and families.

READ MORE: Echuca residents continue to build levee bank as thousands flee Victoria floods

"I'm going to make sure that the only thing that contributes to your final score, your ATAR, is your hard work, your resilience, not those difficulties you are facing right now," Andrews said.

"It's going to be incredibly difficult for students who can't be at home and they can't remotely learn either because teachers are being flood affected as well.

"Schools are being flood affected. More than 80 of them closed. The automatic application of the derived examination will mean students are not disadvantaged."

It comes as 59 early learning centres were also closed in Victoria today.

READ MORE: Benjamin Jansen jailed over Brisbane hotel room killing of Rex Kable Keen almost 50 years later

In response, Andrews said families directly affected by the floods would be able to send their three and four-year-olds to kindergarten for free for term four.

"We are stepping in to provide help for vital early childhood education services, and helping families with kinder-aged children," he said.

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Singapore ready to help with Optus data leak

Singapore has pledged support for Australian authorities in their investigation of the massive Optus data breach.

Optus is owned by Singaporean telecommunications giant Singtel, which is majority owned by a government investment fund.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong discussed the Optus cyber hack during talks in Canberra today.

READ MORE: Government watchdog launches fresh investigation into Optus over cyberattack handling

Lee said Singapore was taking the data breach seriously.

"Agencies have also reached out to the Australian counterparts and stand ready to provide support to the Australian government should our assistance be needed," he said.

"Singapore takes the data breach very seriously.

"We expect all Singapore companies to comply fully with domestic laws wherever they operate and cooperate with the domestic regulators."

OPTUS DATA LEAK: What do I do if my details have been hacked?

The incident resulted in nearly 10 million people having details stolen.

Albanese said the Optus hack was a stark reminder for companies to comply with Australian privacy laws.

"It's a wake-up call to all companies about data retention and about the need to be vigilant in making sure the provisions of the Privacy Act are complied with," he said.

"I appreciate the (Singaporean) prime minister being co-operative on this issue."

READ MORE: Sydney man arrested for alleged SMS scam using leaked data from Optus cyberattack

Optus confirmed earlier this month that at least 2.1 million personal identification numbers have been stolen.

The telco also announced an external review by international services company Deloitte into the massive cyber attack.

Following investigations, Optus said of the 9.8 million customers whose data was hacked, it believes 7.7 million do not need to replace documents.

The 2.1 million personal ID details include 150,000 passport and 50,000 Medicare numbers.