Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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Yet again we find all sorts of angles on security making the headlines – and as you can see – even in the mainstream press. Not discussed here but the robo-debt debacle shows Government can’t be trusted with computers!
Otherwise the
lockdown drags on and we wait to see if the dreaded ‘second wave’ is about to
happen.
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Security concerns raised as My Health Record provider works with app developers
By Emma Koehn
May 26, 2020 — 10.00pm
Cybersecurity experts have warned that partnerships between Australia's digital health agency and software startups to speed up improvements to the My Health Record system could create privacy risks for users.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) has said it is looking to work with more than 20 developers to connect apps to the My Health Record platform. The focus on new technologies comes as the country's digital health care sector is expected to boom after coronavirus despite concerns of likely security breaches in the months to come.
The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) oversees My Health Record, the electronic health care record platform that Australians are enrolled in unless they opted out by the start of 2019.
There are more than 22 million e-records, according to the agency's website. Users that have provided informed consent are able to view their data in read-only format through third party apps.
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https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/afterhours-gp-services-facing-annihilation-patients-turn-telehealth
After-hours GP services 'facing annihilation' as patients turn to telehealth
Industry leader Dr Nathan Pinskier says the future is bleak
26th May 2020
Australia’s after-hours GP services are “doomed” to fail and most will be gone in five years’ time, one of the sector’s top GPs is warning.
Dr Nathan Pinskier says Medicare-funded telehealth is to blame as demand for after-hours home visits slumps as patients turn to phone and video consults.
“The new telehealth items are looking like the straw that broke the camel’s back and our members are very, very despondent,” says Dr Pinskier, president of the GP Deputising Association.
He says some members of the industry body have suffered a 60% slump in revenue since the emergency items, due to remain until 30 September, were first rolled out two months ago.
“I really don’t think some of these services will survive to September. At the very least, they will need to curtail their service delivery.”
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Australian first as WA breast screening results uploaded to My Health Record
BreastScreen WA has become the first breast screening service in Australia to connect to My Health Record.
WA women, who have consented, will have their mammogram results uploaded to their My Health Record as soon as their test is assessed by two consultant radiologists. They can also choose to receive either an SMS or a letter.
Regular breast screenings save lives but waiting for the results of the procedure can be challenging. The fast-tracking of results will further support women and their health care providers as more care is delivered digitally.
Having the results kept in one convenient and secure place means they can be accessed at any time to help inform decisions about patient care.
BreastScreen WA provides free screening mammograms to asymptomatic women and specifically targets women aged 50 to 74 years, however, all women 40 years or over are eligible and welcome to attend. The screening only takes about 15 minutes and does not need a GP referral.
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https://www.governmentnews.com.au/breastscreen-wa-first-to-join-my-health-record/
BreastScreen WA first to join My Health Record
25 May, 2020
The WA component of the national breast cancer screening program has become the first in Australia to connect to My Health Record.
It means that women in WA will now be able to have mammogram results immediately uploaded to their My Health Record, after assessment by two radiologists.
Health minister Greg Hunt says the move will fast-track results and ensure they are kept in on one place where they can be accessed by specialists at any time.
BreastScreen WA provides free mammograms to women aged 40 and over and has conducted more then 2 million screening mammograms since 1989.
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https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/new-app-helps-people-monitor-covid-19-symptoms
New app helps people monitor COVID-19 symptoms
The technology supports those in self-isolation to monitor symptoms from home, and to identify their mental health needs.
29 May 2020
‘What do these symptoms mean?’
‘Should I get
tested?’
‘Where do I
go to get tested?’
‘How long do
I self-isolate? Do I keep isolating if my results are negative?’
These are just some of the common questions for which a new app aims to provide
guidance.
Led by a team at the University of Melbourne’s Department of General Practice, CovidCare has been developed by researchers and
clinicians, including GP Dr Mukesh Haikerwal.
It allows patients with symptoms or a diagnosis of COVID-19 who are in
isolation to self-monitor their progress. It guides them on how to measure
their heart rate and body temperature, as well as documenting shortness of
breath, which is then input into the app.
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http://federal.governmentcareer.com.au/news/myhealth-hacks-mentioned
MyHealth hacks mentioned
25 May 2020
A federal agency has admitted MyHealth records have been targeted by hackers.
The Australian Digital Health Agency, which runs the MyHealth digital records system, says there were two potential data breaches this year, but claims no personal information was stolen.
The Australian Cyber Security Centre along with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner were brought in to investigate the first hacking attempt.
“Somebody tried to hack our system, so the external perimeter of our system,” the agency's national health chief information officer Ronan O'Connor has told a parliamentary committee hearing.
“I want to assure the committee that there was no access into the MyHealth record in any way whatsoever, no health information or personal sensitive information was accessed.”
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https://itwire.com/health/only-states-can-release-stats-on-covidsafe-data-after-pandemic-ends.html
Tuesday, 26 May 2020 11:54
Only states can release stats on COVIDSafe data after pandemic ends
Data collected by the COVIDSafe app will be destroyed after the pandemic is declared over in Australia, and only the states and territories will be able to release data to show if the app was an effective tool in combatting the pandemic.
A Department of Health spokesperson told iTWire in response to queries that no statistics would be released by the Federal Government.
When the pandemic was declared over in the country, users of the app would be prompted to delete the app from their smartphones.
|
"The Commonwealth is not involved in the utilisation of the data," the spokesperson added. |
iTWire had inquired whether the stats collected by the app and uploaded would be released so that Australians could get an idea about how the data had helped in combatting the crisis.
Deleting the app from a smartphone would also delete all app information. And when the pandemic was over, the central server that was storing the data would also be cleaned out.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/dta-fixes-covidsafe-bluetooth-privacy-bug-548634
DTA fixes COVIDSafe Bluetooth privacy bug
By Justin Hendry on May 27, 2020 3:20PM
After feedback from developers, researchers.
The Digital Transformation Agency has fixed a security issue with its COVIDSafe contact tracing app that exposed Android device names over Bluetooth.
The update - its third since the source code for the app was released almost three weeks ago - was pushed out on Tuesday to “further enhance the protection and anonymity of users”.
It introduces “new measures to the Bluetooth contact tracing protocol” to remove the visibility of Android devices names, as well as “an extra layer of encryption for the digital handshake”.
The issue was raised by software developer Jim Mussared and cryptographic researcher Eleanor McMurty in their comprehensive summary of the app’s privacy issues.
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Friday, 22 May 2020 11:57
‘World first’ touchless triage kiosk used for screening COVID 19
Melbourne based technology solution provider Elenium Automation has implemented a multifunctional health screening device for COVID-19 and other potential illnesses using a claimed “world first” touchless triage kiosk.
The trial with Nagambie HealthCare, a regional hospital and aged care provider in Victoria, is being conducted in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and enables Nagambie HealthCare employees, visitors and contractors to “quickly and effortlessly self-assess their vital health signs, including temperature, respiratory and heart rates at a safe distance before permitted entry”.
During the trial, if a health sign concern is detected the kiosk will immediately link the user via a video call to a triage nurse for further assessment - eliminating contact between staff and visitors during the process, and allow the user, in this incidence, to avoid entry into the Nagambie HealthCare precinct.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/centrelink-loses-welfare-payments-overhaul-chief-548520
Centrelink loses welfare payments overhaul chief
By Justin Hendry on May 25, 2020 5:15PM
Former Human Services CTO drafted in.
The high-profile senior executive in charge of the country’s billion dollar-plus Centrelink IT overhaul has called it quits after more than four years on the project.
John Murphy, who joined what was then the Department of Human Services from the National Australia Bank back in February 2016, worked his last day on Friday.
His departure is a significant loss for the agency, which still has another three years to run on its massive welfare payments infrastructure transformation (WPIT) project.
WPIT is replacing the legacy Model 204-based income security integrated system that is still used to process more than $170 billion worth of payments every year, more than 30 years on.
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Tuesday, 26 May 2020 10:15
Working from home during COVID 19 crisis ‘positively’ impacts Australians, survey reveals
Australians who have been required to work from home during COVID-19 say the experience has positively impacted how they view their work/life flexibility, according to a new behavioural change survey by National Broadband Network operator NBN Co.
According to the survey, conducted by Venture Insights and commissioned by NBN, that was the effect of working from home - and with that access to fast broadband had made 81% of respondents who could work from home feel more secure in their jobs during the COVID-19 crisis, with 83% saying they could not have completed their jobs without it.
The NBN Survey investigated Australians’ internet usage habits before and during social distancing, to understand how consumption needs were changing and the behaviours that might endure post-restrictions being lifted, also revealing that:
- 67% say they expect to work from home more after the COVID-19 crisis has ended, and
81% of work from home respondents agreed access to fast broadband had made them feel more secure in their jobs during COVID-19, and 83% agreed they could not have completed their jobs without access to fast internet.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/fed-agencies-cop-mass-fail-in-core-systems-cyber-review-548738
Fed agencies cop mass fail in core systems cyber review
By Justin Hendry on May 29, 2020 1:59PM
Just one agency gets 'essential eight' tick for financial, HR systems.
Only one of the federal government’s largest agencies has fully applied the Australian Signals Directorate's essential eight to some of its most important systems, the national auditor has found.
The finding is contained in the 2019 interim financial controls audit of major entities, which reviewed the implementation of the controls now considered the baseline for cyber resilience.
The Australian National Audit Office’s review focused on the financial and HR systems of 18 agencies, including Defence, Services Australia, Home Affairs and the Tax Office.
“The review was undertaken to confirm the accuracy of reporting and identity cyber security risks that may impact on the preparation of financial statements,” the auditor said [pdf].
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Toll Group attackers accessed personal and payroll data of staff
By Ry Crozier on May 28, 2020 11:04PM
Impacts employees in several countries.
Toll Group has confirmed its latest encounter with ransomware enabled attackers to “access” personal and payroll details of current and former staff in several countries, though it says there's “no evidence” the data was "taken”.
In an update late Thursday - its first in over a week - the company said it had established that employee data held on servers compromised by the Nefilim attackers included "details such as name, residential address, age or birthdate, and payroll information (including salary, superannuation and tax file number)."
“The information relates to some current and former employees in certain countries in which Toll operates, including Australia and New Zealand," the company said.
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https://itwire.com/security/toll-says-employee-information-accessed-by-ransomware-attackers.html
Friday, 29 May 2020 08:49
Toll says employee information accessed by ransomware attackers
Australian logistics and transport firm Toll Group says that a ransomware group that attacked the company recently has accessed files on a corporate server that included employees' information such as names, residential addresses, age or date of birth and payroll information.
In its first update about the attack in eight days, Toll said the affected personnel were past and present employees from countries where it operates, including Australia and New Zealand.
Toll was hit by Windows ransomware known as Nefilim and the incident was made public on 5 May.
This is the second time Toll has been attacked this year, with the first being in February.
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West Hume Region to implement DXC Care Suite patient management platform
Dean Koh | 26 May 2020
Located in the northeastern part of Victoria, West Hume Region (WHR) last week announced they will be implementing DXC Care Suite to optimize workflow and help improve outcomes in patient care. WHR comprises five rural health services: Goulburn Valley Health (GV Health), Nathalia, Cobram & Numurkah Health, The Kilmore & District Hospital, Yea & District Memorial Hospital and Seymour Health.
DXC Care Suite is a health platform that offers contemporary patient record management, automated scheduling and pathway management. The interoperability capabilities of DXC Open Health Connect helps care providers integrate data from different systems to create a longitudinal patient record via Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) interfaces.
WHY IT MATTERS
Through real-time automation, DXC Care Suite will enable a redesign of workflows that will increase efficiency for staff and patients across the WHR. This will allow member hospitals to achieve significant savings and reallocate staff to higher-value responsibilities. For instance, the use of DXC Care Suite will increase and improve the flow of patients through the hospitals, freeing up capacity and creating administrative efficiencies.
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New mental health program announced to support Australian healthcare workers during COVID-19
Dean Koh | 20 May 2020
A new partnership between Smiling Mind and the Australian Federal Government will allow 20,000 Australian healthcare professionals to get access to a dedicated mental health program. The program, now available in Smiling Mind’s popular app, has been tailored to the needs of healthcare workers to help them manage their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a focus on proactive and preventative support, content covers topics such as stress management, sleep, resilience, thinking clearly, and decision making under pressure. Smiling Mind is a non-for-profit web and app-based meditation program developed by psychologists and educators.
The company has said that it has seen unprecedented growth across its digital resources over recent months. April was the organization largest month on record with over 181,200 downloads – an increase of 165% on April 2019 downloads.
Healthcare professionals can access all free content within the Health Professional Support Program by downloading the Smiling Mind app (available on iOS and Android) and navigate to Healthcare Worker under All Programs.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/509355/E-ordering-of-lab-tests-skyrockets.htm
E-ordering of lab tests skyrockets
Tuesday, 26 May 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The Covid-19 lockdown has driven a huge increase in the use of electronic ordering for lab tests and a national clinical data repository (CDR) for all Covid-19 test results has been created.
The new CDR, created by ESR and Sysmex, is a repository for all Covid-19 test results from labs across New Zealand, making it easier for information to be made available for the intelligence reporting that ESR provides to the National Health Coordination Centre.
This data is used by the Ministry for the daily Covid-19 update to the nation.
ESR data and informatics manager Andrew Crooke says the system allows a complete national overview of all testing to be provided much faster.
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https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/509599/whina-app-launched-for-health-workers.htm
Âwhina app launched for health workers
Wednesday, 27 May 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
The Ministry of Health has developed a mobile app to help health workers access information about Covid-19.
The Âwhina app is designed to provide health workers with quick access to relevant information such as the latest case definitions, clinical care pathways or Personal Protective Equipment guidance.
The information is frequently updated based on latest research, advice, and changes to alert levels. The app will notify health workers when new or updated content is available to them.
Âwhina been welcomed by the medical director of the Royal NZ College of GPs Bryan Betty, who says “anything that makes it easier for front-line GPs to access up to date information on Covid-19 would be welcomed by the College.”
MoH deputy director-general Data and Digital Shayne Hunter says Covid-19 has changed the way many people live and work and this is especially true for those working in the health and disability sector.
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NBN to get 250Mbps on entire HFC network by June 2021, only 7% can get 750Mbps
New wholesale pricing structure leaves cable users guessing.
By Chris Duckett | May 29, 2020 -- 00:57 GMT (10:57 AEST) | Topic: Networking
The wholesale pricing changes flagged by the company responsible for deploying the National Broadband Network (NBN) across Australia at the end of 2019 came into force on Friday, and along with the new 100/20, 250/25, and 1,000/50Mbps speed tiers, a bunch of caveats were also released.
NBN said its new 500-1,000Mbps plan, which the company has dubbed as ultrafast, would only be available on 18% of its network, which would include its fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) footprint along with an "initial" 7% of the hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) footprint.
"This will provide an opportunity for NBN and RSPs to work together to understand customer demand, usage patterns, customer satisfaction with speed performance and the future growth profile," NBN said in reference to the HFC footprint.
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Friday, 29 May 2020 12:03
NBNCo boosts broadband network speeds to satisfy ‘customer demands’ for higher speeds
National Broadband Network operator NBNCo has launched new higher speed Internet plans in response to what it says has been strong demand for higher speed services from new customers. The plans include a new “close to” 1Gbps service.
NBN Co said on Friday that to further improve residential customers’ nbn experience, it is “overprovisioning the downlink component” of the Home Fast and Home Superfast products by around 10 – 15%, where possible - with the exception of the new Home Ultrafast speed tiers1-4,6.
“NBN Co is planning to overprovision most other existing wholesale fixed line speed tiers starting from between June and August 2020 (with the exception of the new Home Ultrafast speed tiers1-4,6),” NBN Co said.
“The provision of additional download capacity at the wholesale layer is designed to accommodate protocol overhead, which includes the code used to help ensure the correct delivery of data packets, that otherwise impact a customer’s broadband speed.
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NBN offers up to gigabit speeds but many miss out
Cable used in the NBN rollout.
NBN Co will radically increase consumer download speeds due to more Australians working at home. Some users will have access to a theoretical speed of close to 1000 Megabits per second (one Gigabit) on the “Home Ultrafast” tier, one of three new speed tiers being rolled out from today.
But only those with fibre-to-the-home and seven per cent of HFC (Hybrid Fibre Coaxial) users will access anything like Gigabit speeds with copper connections used with fibre-to-the-node and fibre-to-the curb limited to 100Mbps, the current top-of-range speed for consumers.
The ability of the NBN Co to deliver speeds above 100Mbps but only to some sections of the network brings into play the limitations of moving from the original fibre-to-the home model to mixed options that use old copper wiring.
There’s multiple reasons for NBN’s decision to roll out faster speeds. First there’s been an NBN wholesale review of the changing dynamics of the internet market which shows Australians are connecting many more devices to their home networks.
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NBN Co limits gigabit services to just 7 percent of HFC footprint
By Ry Crozier on May 29, 2020 1:07AM
Similarly constrains access to 250 Mbps tier.
NBN Co has revealed it won’t offer 250 Mbps and up to gigabit speeds to its entire HFC footprint, constraining availability of the new high-speed plans to a subset of HFC users for at least a year.
The limitations were disclosed as the network builder finally launched the 100/20 Mbps, 250/25 Mbps and up to 1000/50 Mbps plans it came up with via a wholesale price review late last year.
The limits on the HFC network’s ability to support the highest speed services are likely to be a source of some embarrassment for the Australian government.
Affordable services with up to gigabit speeds have been touted for the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and HFC footprints since being announced last year.
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Thursday, 28 May 2020 23:44
Broadband data demand remains above pre-COVID 19 levels: NBN Co
Broadband data demand on the National Broadband Network’s main wholesale access service has remained above pre-COVID 19 levels, according to the network operator, NBN Co.
NBN Co said on Thursday that data demand on the access service continues to sit at elevated levels compared to the pre-COVID-19 baseline - showing Australian users reliance on the Internet during home social isolation, according to figures from the latest Australian Broadband Data Demand report.
The report reveals that for the week from Monday, 18 May to Sunday, 24 May, peak download throughput (the measure of data flowing through the nbn access network) during the busy evening period increased by 32% compared to the last week of February (which nbn measures as its normal pre-COVID-19 baseline) to record a new record high of 14.5 terabits per second (Tbps) on the main wholesale service on Tuesday 19 May.
The new record high coincided with the release of a software update for a popular multi-player online game.
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NBN Co quotes at least 1200 customers on a switch to full fibre
By Ry Crozier on May 27, 2020 11:41PM
Does not reveal acceptance rate.
NBN Co has seen a sizeable increase in the amount of quotes issued to customers wanting to pay their own way to a faster access technology over the past three years.
The network builder provided a rare - albeit incomplete - look at the number of customers that pursue a user-pays upgrade to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) under its Technology Choice program.
Over the years, statistics on the uptake of Technology Choice have tended to be piecemeal, in part because numbers are released on various stages of the process: the number of applications, the number of quotes issued, and then the number of applicants that actually proceed.
The latest release of numbers only covers quotes NBN Co has issued to date, and then only for specific upgrade paths: fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) or fixed wireless to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP).
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Get the best deal on your NBN plan
By Joel Gibson
May 26, 2020 — 10.00pm
Our political leaders, health professionals and our teachers have rightly received high praise for getting Australia through the coronavirus pandemic in the past couple of months.
But there’s another plucky little Australian — one often much-maligned — that has also outdone itself and deserves applause: the National Broadband Network.
The NBN had a little wobble in late March and early April as millions of us stopped leaving the house and started living our lives over Zoom, Skype and Google, with average download speeds dropping between 14 per cent and 23 per cent, depending on your internet plan speed tier.
However, the government asked streaming services Netflix and Stan to reduce the definition of their images and the NBN also gave service providers 40 per cent extra network capacity for free.
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/aussie-broadband-offers-1gbps-on-fibre-and-hfc.html
Tuesday, 26 May 2020 12:01
Aussie Broadband offers 1Gbps on fibre and HFC
Gigabit NBN plans have been few and far between, but Aussie Broadband is about to join the market.
Aussie Broadband intends to launch a $149 unlimited data plan for the new NBN 1000/50 tier on Friday 29 May, taking advantage of new NBN wholesale prices that are expected to take effect that day.
Peak evening speeds are yet to be determined, but the company predicts 800-900Mbps will be achievable, depending on the NBN technology serving the premises. So Aussie is initially playing it safe and using peak evening speeds for its 250Mbps plans as a baseline.
“Not surprisingly, we are keen to offer 1Gbps plans as soon as NBN introduces the product,” said Aussie Broadband managing director Phillip Britt.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/aussie-broadbands-250-mbps-nbn-sign-up-spurt-continues-548576
Aussie Broadband's 250 Mbps NBN sign-up spurt continues
By Ry Crozier on May 26, 2020 10:16PM
Also adds sharp rise in gigabit business connections to its books.
Aussie Broadband continues to dominate sign-ups in NBN tiers above 100 Mbps, recording a 47 percent rise in 250 Mbps services in the three months to the end of March.
The retail service provider (RSP) also saw the number of gigabit services it has in operation climb from four at the end of December last year to 51 just three months later - an 1175 percent rise, albeit off of a very small base.
iTnews confirmed that these gigabit customers were business users that had signed on to a 1000/400 Mbps NBN Ethernet Bitstream Service or NEBS product.
However, the number of gigabit users is likely to climb significantly in the next reporting period as Aussie Broadband begins selling an up to gigabit product for residential customers priced at $149 a month.
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https://itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/more-than-7m-australians-can-now-connect-to-the-nbn.html
Tuesday, 26 May 2020 11:13
More than 7m Australians can now connect to the NBN
More than seven million Australians are connected to the national broadband network after 455,000 new services were activated in the first quarter of 2020.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in its latest quarterly Wholesale Market Indicators Report on Tuesday that this jump in connections coincided with an increase of 31% in bandwidth on the network.
The NBN Co, the company building the network, increased network capacity in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and as a result the CVC per user increased from 1.92Mbps to 2.52Mbps during the quarter, the ACCC said. This CVC increase did not cost the retail service providers anything.
“We were pleased to see NBN Co and RSPs work together to ensure Australians can stay connected during these unprecedented times,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
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Aussie Broadband to offer 'best effort' gigabit NBN plans for $149
By Ry Crozier on May 26, 2020 12:00PM
Still unsure what peak speeds are achievable.
Aussie Broadband is set to launch up to gigabit speed residential NBN plans at the end of this week, priced at $149 a month.
The retail service provider (RSP) is moving into the market after NBN Co unveiled plans late last year to introduce a more affordable “up to” gigabit tier with a heavily asymmetric 1000/50 Mbps profile.
With the new wholesale plans set to be introduced from this Friday, Aussie Broadband said it intended to “offer 1Gbps plans as soon as NBN introduces the product”.
“The new plan will initially be released for all FTTP premises and some of the HFC network, and we anticipate the footprint will grow with time,” Aussie Broadband’s managing director Phillip Britt said in a statement.
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NBN Co faces fresh pressure not to fully unwind free bandwidth boost
By Ry Crozier on May 26, 2020 12:28PM
As its own research shows ongoing need.
NBN Co is under renewed pressure to maintain some of the free bandwidth boost it has offered during the coronavirus lockdown period after its own research indicated that elevated demand for internet could extend beyond July.
Figures released by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today showed the aggregate impact of the temporary capacity offered by NBN Co.
The boost allows RSPs to use up to 40 percent additional bandwidth above February 2020 levels without incurring additional costs.
On a network-wide basis, bandwidth per user “increased from 1.92Mbps to 2.52Mbps during the March quarter,” the ACCC said.
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Telstra beating its 5G rollout targets
Telstra says it is ahead of its schedule to roll out 5G and has established the first test sites of 5G millimetre wave technology.
The coronavirus pandemic has not slowed Telstra’s general rollout of 5G.
Telstra network engineering executive Channa Seneviratne said the company had rolled out 5G in areas of 47 cities and regional centres, and was ahead of the goal announced last year of 35 cities by June 30.
All states and territories had some 5G coverage except for the Northern Territory. Most of the 47 regions are in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, with some coverage in Perth and Busselton in Western Australia, Adelaide and Mount Gambier in South Australia, Hobart and Launceston in Tasmania, and Canberra.
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Door opens for Telstra as NBN 'proves itself' in lockdown
Paul Smith Technology editor
May 26, 2020 – 12.00am
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has left the door open for Telstra's infrastructure arm to acquire the National Broadband Network in future, and said he was unconcerned by emerging competition from state government and privately owned rivals as the network had proven its value to most citizens during the COVID-19 lockdown.
In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, Mr Fletcher said the NBN had withstood a huge spike in usage as workers and students operated remotely and that NBN Co was now well positioned to upgrade for future needs after securing a $6.1 billion debt facility earlier this month.
His comments will prick the ears of Telstra CEO Andy Penn, who has long harboured plans to try and buy back the wholesale revenues lost to the NBN. They will also interest critics of the NBN rollout, who have complained about a lack of an upgrade plan after the completion of the initial rollout next month.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/telstra-ceo-wants-nbn-upgrade-paths-reflected-in-govt-policy-548506
Telstra CEO wants NBN upgrade paths reflected in govt policy
By Ry Crozier on May 25, 2020 11:24AM
Calls for telcos to be unshackled from past policy and decisions.
Telstra CEO Andy Penn wants a “long term” strategy for Australian telecommunications to be developed with government, spelling out upgrade paths for the NBN and removing barriers to 5G and edge compute deployments.
Penn laid out a broad policy wishlist on Monday, in which he sought to use the restart from COVID-related lockdowns as a springboard for change.
In particular, Penn saw opportunities to develop digital technologies in the post-COVID era, to "reform telecommunications”, and to bolster investment in and attention around security risks.
Telecommunications, he said, was the “connective tissue” that held businesses and communities together through the lockdown.
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Enjoy!
David.
7 comments:
re the first item:
Security concerns raised as My Health Record provider works with app developers
"Users that have provided informed consent are able to view their data in read-only format through third party apps."
The original opt-in model was hardly informed consent, now myhr is based on assumed consent.
This might end up as a bit of a problem for ADHA, it might even end up on court. Stranger things have happened, think RoboDebt.
The problem could come from unintended consequences of the Pharmacy Guild's push to get pharmacists better integrated into the healthcare model.
There's a report in today's SMH
Amazon intensifies push into Australian pharmacy with trademark application
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/amazon-intensifies-push-into-australian-pharmacy-with-trademark-application-20200601-p54yc2.html
Amazon has always played the long game. If you are not familiar with the term "gazelle strategy" you need to up your game.
If Amazon knows one thing very well, it's how to leverage the on-line market place. The Australian government, unknowingly, is making life easier for Amazon and harder for the existing players.
IANAL, but reading section 7 of the legislation (Definition of nominated representative of a healthcare recipient) it looks to me as though a healthcare recipient can appoint anyone to be a nominated representative.
If this is the case, ponder this:
Anyone with a myhr can give anyone else consent to access their health record.
Amazon must be delighted.
While you are pondering the potential role of Amazon, you might be interested in the goings on of the ex CEO of ADHA.
It seems he came to Australia to learn and he's now joined the Hardy Group Learning Set to learn a bit more about strategy and problem solving.
I may have been the first to view this youtube video. Make of it what you will:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8eCRAPmTGA
This is the Hardy Group
https://hardygroupintl.com/
The website saya:
HG Learning Sets are for high performing executives looking to overcome their toughest career challenges
Tim's greatest challenge may well be keeping his job at HIMSS.
Bernard I think the link describes the content very well v=B8eCRAPmTGA.
They probably need to work on presentation and preparation, 200 Mums is my limited and that was used up in the first 90 seconds.
At least it would appear Tim takes advice and acts on it when it is about his personal development. Tim sits in a difficult sphere. He does not have the depth of experience or time server to be anything more than an active bystander when it comes to forming government policy. The UK is probably not ready for his return. And he is now marked for life with the curse the the Australian national health record program.
Maybe one day we will find out why he fell so fast so suddenly and why those who filled the vacuum managed to be available to fill the void.
Tin has a lot to learn. That learning is unlikely to happen in his locked down study. He might learn just how useful a historian with experience in journalism is in the highly technical world of Health IT.
Here's a hint - Not very much.
LEARNING SET is a form of learning discriminatory ideals where the learner is taught for example that one object contains a food reward where a different object does not.
LEARNING SET: "Developing an individuals mental abilities for solving discriminative learning processes typically comes from learning sets."
N., Pam M.S., "LEARNING SET," in PsychologyDictionary.org, April 7, 2013, http://psychologydictionary.org/learning-set (accessed June 2, 2020).
Does that mean Tim Kelsey doesn't know why he hasn't learn from past mistakes and repeated them?
Does this mean he doesn't know why so many health professionals and patients don't like the My Health Record system despite all the marvellous rewards, the supposed benefits, reported by the ADHA marketing department?
If Tim Kelsey doesn't know how to learn from seeing outcomes (incl. failures) by now with that much experience, he shouldn't be considered for management or leadership.
"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Sir Winston Churchill
The only history Tim knows is that of Turkey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Kelsey
Kelsey is author of Dervish: The Invention of Modern Turkey, a portrait of the country in the mid-1990s which was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1996 and Penguin Books the following year.
Jan Morris, the noted travel writer, commented in her jacket review: 'An excellent travel book, offering startling and vivid insights, social, historical and political, into a Turkey that most visitors can hardly imagine.'
Others described it as 'dystopian' and 'no standard travel narrative'.
Dystopian rather says it all. The best that can be said of Kelsey is that he is controversial.
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