What we covered today
That’s where we’ll leave our live coverage for today, on a day dominated by one story in particular.
The government has revealed an OpenAI agent gained unauthorised access to the public-facing portal, which is administered by Services Australia.
This happened back in June, but it was another two months before OpenAI picked it up and another month after that before the company informed Australia.
For the full breakdown, check out this piece from our national consumer affairs reporter Elias Visontay. See you tomorrow.
OpenAI breach ‘accelerates’ need for regulator response to AI, Gallagher says
Government Services Minister Katy Gallagher says the OpenAI breach of government services “accelerates or amplifies” the need for Australia to respond to AI in a regulatory way “as soon as we can”.
“We actually need the parliament to pass those laws, so we need to get support across the board,” Gallagher told ABC News’ Afternoon Briefing.
“We’re very keen to work with the opposition,” she said.
“In fact, this morning, just as the news broke, I briefed members of the Coalition who have responsibility in this area to make sure they had the information I had.”
Greens members have called for a moratorium on data centres in Australia; however, Gallagher said she wasn’t sure “how that would have helped in relation to this issue”.
“We’ve got to be engaged and working on all of these things, and we would encourage the Greens to do so.”
Gallagher says OpenAI breach of government services ‘unprecedented’
Minister for Government Services Katy Gallagher says Australians shouldn’t be frightened, but that OpenAI’s breach of government services was “novel”.
“They are engaging with us, and we’re really pleased about that,” Gallagher told ABC News’ Afternoon Briefing.
“They are being very open with us … but the PM’s been very clear that the nature of how we got alerted to this is not acceptable and the time it took to alert us to this incident is also not acceptable.”
Gallagher said the incident was an “unprecedented situation” and that the government was considering referring it to the Australian Federal Police
Construction site under Sydney Harbour Bridge to become park again
One of Sydney’s most prized public parks with uninterrupted views of the Opera House, Circular Quay and the harbour is set to be transformed from churned soil to open green space after a sustained campaign from locals who called for the derelict space to be returned to the community.
The NSW government today revealed plans to expand open space at Bradfield Park South, a foreshore stretch in Kirribilli near the northern pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
For years, the park has been used as a construction site for essential maintenance involving the repainting and removal of rust on the 94-year-old Harbour Bridge.
Locals said what should be world-class, picturesque views are far from that; churned soil, fencing and constant construction activity still remain today.
OpenAI unlikely to have fallen foul of Australian law, says expert
A professor of law and AI ethics says today’s news of an OpenAI agent breaching Medicare is unlikely to have breached Australian criminal or civil law, but was close to doing both.
Earlier today, acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said he had yet to determine whether OpenAI had broken the law or was liable to suffer a penalty.
Melbourne University’s Jeannie Paterson told ABC News: “There are Commonwealth laws that prohibit accessing modifying or impairing a database where access isn’t authorised, but that requires intention.
“What we’re hearing from OpenAI is that they didn’t know or didn’t intend for it to happen. Without investigation, without access to internal company documents, it would be difficult to show this was an intentional breach or that there was knowledge of what was happening.”
Judge lifts Trump’s White House ban on three networks
A US federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump to restore White House access for journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico, saying his ban on the three media outlets was most likely unconstitutional.
In a major setback for Trump in one of his biggest battles with the media, US District Judge Tim Kelly issued his order in a lawsuit that the news organisations filed contesting the ban that the Republican president announced on September 18.
Trump had said on social media that the three outlets “shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES”, and Justice Department lawyers had sought to justify the ban on national security grounds.
In response to the ban, other networks suspended their pool coverage of Trump’s press conferences, leading to one event at which Trump gave an inaudible speech.
Major boost to nursing numbers for NSW
The Minns government will recruit an additional 950 nurses to work across 70 NSW hospitals to ease treatment waiting times and improve care.
Under Labor’s Safe Staffing Levels reforms, a minimum of one nurse to four patients will apply during morning and afternoon shifts across more than 360 general and specialty wards.
The latest NSW hospital data shows one in 10 patients spends 25½ hours in an emergency department waiting for a bed in a ward, while almost 9 per cent give up and leave without completing treatment.
Safe Staffing Levels are already being rolled out at 81 emergency departments across NSW, with 990 nurses already recruited, Health Minister Ryan Park’s office reported today.
ASIC strengthens AI training safeguards
Just hours before the government confirmed an OpenAI software agent breached the Medicare Statistics Reporting Portal, Australia’s securities regulator revealed it is strengthening safeguards for automated and artificial intelligence-enabled trading.
The reforms will require market participants to test, monitor and govern trading systems and algorithms as markets evolve and AI adoption increases, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said in a statement.
The amendments follow extensive industry consultation and the changes will take effect in 2028.
The safeguards are part of a wave of regulatory changes globally as authorities seek to keep pace with the growing use of AI and automation in financial markets. The changes may shape how firms deploy the technology and how regulators oversee its use in the years ahead.
Crossbencher Wilkie says government has moved too slowly on AI regulation
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says OpenAI’s breach of Medicare, revealed today by the prime minister, came after many people including himself had been warning the government of AI’s dangers.
“It’s been disappointing the government has been moving so slow on this. Hopefully, today won’t be so much of a wake-up call but a call to arms,” he told ABC News.
While he welcomed the announcement of a rapid review and a taskforce to look into the breach, he said, “Quite frankly, everything up until now has moved too slowly.
“We still don’t have a national AI safety act, even though it has been discussed for a long time. Even with this particular episode everything moved slowly.
Ukraine sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea: Zelensky
Ukraine has sent two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly, following months of consultations between Kyiv and Seoul after the soldiers were captured in Russia’s Kursk region in 2025.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry did not directly confirm Zelensky’s comments but said it had been consulting with Kyiv and other relevant parties to resolve the matter in a manner that respected the soldiers’ free will and complied with international law and humanitarian principles.
The ministry said in a statement that it would not confirm details about the soldiers’ “disposition, the timing or route of their transfer or specific contents of consultations” with Ukraine, calling it a sensitive matter concerning the safety of the soldiers and their families.
The soldiers were among thousands of North Korean troops sent to support Russia’s war on Ukraine.
AP
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
