Australian Government Outsources Cancer Registers to a Phone Company

In a move that has puzzled many including notable security analysts the Australian Government has awarded a $220 million contract to Telstra for the Bowel Cancer Screening Register. Telstra has admitted that it does not have the experience to manage this type of system so it has purchased four companies that do for which includes Emerging Systems, Dr Foster, Argus and HealthConnex. The cost of this contact for which covers five years is approximately to maintain the existing registers for at least 30 years. Some groups have stated that they believe Telstra is only in it for the money, while others have expressed security concerns concerning previous Telstra data breaches along with the widely accepted view that Telstra is a strong proponent of big data. Overall this decision is highly concerning considering that the Department of Human Services has for decades securely maintained registers of Australian health data including Medicare, PBS and the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register at a cost effective price for Australian tax payers.