Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, , 2:34:18 to 2:42:39
Senator Payman queries access to historical library research requests and IT configuration issues following a suite relocation.
Topics: Government IT systems, Privacy
Speakers: Senator Fatima Payman, Steven Fox, Nicola Hinder, Speaker 3, Senator Karen Grogan, Jaala Hinchcliffe
>> Uh thank you. I should have asked for the call. Uh I table the building condition report which has been furnished to the committee. So apologies for being a bit late with that.
>> Thank you president. Uh we'll now go to Senator Payman.
>> Thank you chair. Um good morning. Um now I've got a few line of questions around um my library advice. So, in August, the Parliamentary Library introduced my library advice, um, which is a repository of all library requests made by a parliamentarian's office. Um, when my office looked at this page at the time it was released, it listed all requests made by myself and my staff from the time of my election back in 2022. Um, when my office checked this page again recently, uh, it only listed requests as far back as August 2024, uh, which was when I just had left the Labor Party and sat on the crossbench as an independent. So, I'm just curious to understand why those requests were made
>> Oh, thank you. Thank you, Senator. I'll take that. Uh, Steven Fox, parliamentary librarian. I'm very pleased to hear using my library advice because it's a great repository of previous research requests. Uh look, we've been looking at our systems much consistent with what we've just been talking about in terms of cyber security in terms of our data and and that that information and we identified some potential um some potential issues with historical data in terms of where it was sitting. So we've we've temporarily locked the access to the material, the older material. effectively just taking a step back. Malabar advice was introduced uh a couple of years ago and there was a historical uh advice that was migrated into that and it looks like potentially there's been some problems with that migration process and we've been working with our cyber security colleagues in this um and so we've made the decision to limit the access. We you if you ask us we can still provide that information to you but at the moment in terms of self-service it's it's essentially only information that was available from the roll out of my library advice which as you say is in 2024.
so were the requests from 2022 were they deleted or
>> No they're all still they're all still safe secure >> uh in our in our library repository. It's just that the self-service component of that is is not available at this point in time.
>> And so was that communicated with all parliamentarians that they can no longer have access to as in can't see on the
page? Look, we we consulted with the um the clerks or the deputy clerks of the house and the senate around all the matters around it because you know it's confidential and sensitive information >> and in the end we decided to probably not broadcast that just to just to effectively just hold still hold the information and have all the information available from when the system went live but the historical information is just sitting safe and secure on our our server if want a better description. So,
is it safe to say that all parliamentarians who made a request um before August of 2024 uh they do not have access to their request? So, >> that's correct. Yeah. >> So, since the roll out in 2024 um that's what's reflected on everyone's record. >> That's correct. >> Wonderful. Um cool. And so do we is there a process of how we go about seeking um a a backlog of or to see what requests were made
>> as we've recently just sort of promoted just ask just ask us and we can we can certainly retrieve that information for you. Yeah.
>> Okay. Um great thank you. So uh just in re regards to re uh relocation of suites. Um when I relocated uh suites recently uh the DPS helped to create the new suite for my team to move in prior to September sitting Fortnite. U during that Fortnite it became apparent that the office printer had not been properly configured um and was unusable. Uh, was this checked by DPS before the move was considered
>> Uh, Senator, I'm sorry. I I don't actually know, but I'll take that on notice and make sure we get back to you.
>> Importantly, so is your is your printer
working now?
>> Yes, but we had to we had to like follow up quite a few times. Um, it's just the fact that it was considered completed, but not everything had been, you know, configured and usable. Um, Is there a particular checklist that DPS have when it comes to moving suites and stuff of like to make sure that you know the previous office settings are very similar to the new office settings?
>> Uh Senator, I think it's fair to say our team genuinely do take a great deal of pride and a great deal of care to making sure that they are setting up all parliamentarians to work in the most effective manner. Um, I understand that there is a process that they go through to be able to make sure that that happens, but um, in this case, if it hasn't happened, we offer our apologies. >> Um, I'll double check as well whether or not there's a tick the box process, but they are very, very experienced at the ICT matters in both setting up elected offices and parliamentarian offices. And I'm very pleased if what disappointed what happened in your circumstance. I'm very pleased to know that we receive a great deal of feedback to say how smoothly everything has gone. And I'd like to thank my thanks to the team responsible for doing that.
>> Thank you. Um cuz yeah, I would love for you to also just look into why there were delays. So the printer is now working. But uh when we first raised with DPSIT that you on 14th of September that this isn't working um it literally took them about 2 weeks to have somebody come in and have a look. Now a printer in a parliamentarian's office is very important. It's quite >> uh it's one of those equipments that you can't do without.
>> Absolutely. Senator
>> So I'm just curious to understand why it took DPS to send somebody sort of two
weeks later. Let me double check that against the service records. Happy to be transparent about that, Senator.
so this is around the ports uh because my staff spoke to DPSIT uh on 23rd of September. Um, and DPSIT attended that same very day. um and learned that not only was the printer notworked properly um but most of the ports in the center of the suite were disabled um do we know why these ports were not enabled prior to the move?
>> Senator, I don't. I'm sorry. I'll come back to you on notice.
and again if we can just get some clarification around DPA DPS it standard of service. Um you know like >> I hope this isn't the case for parliamentarians but this was the the experience we we had. Um can you advise us on what service level agreements apply to DPS which relate to these issues?
Uh, Senator, I unless Mr. Webb wishes to correct me, I don't believe we actually have a mandated service level agreement. Um, but I also think that that's appropriate because we provide services solely to parliamentarians and the parliamentary departments. From time to time, we do receive feedback that our ICT services need to have uplift, but that is um hopefully isolated examples. The majority of parliamentarians that I speak to say that things go smoothly. Um, so again, I'm sorry if that didn't happen in your case. Um, but the team, I can assure everyone, takes a great deal of pride to make sure that all parliamentarians are connected,worked, enabled because we are here to serve
>> Thank you. Well, I look forward to receiving those um the questions on notice you've taken. Thank you so much.