Scott Morrison sends China a signal on cyber attack – but then fear turns into farce

It was a moment of farce just hours after a sombre-sounding Australian prime minister delivered the grim news that a wide range of the nation’s public and private sector organisations “are currently being targeted by a sophisticated state-based cyber actor”.

What, journalists wanted to know, did Scott Morrison mean by “currently” experiencing these attacks? “I mean currently,” Morrison replied curtly.

Pressed on the fact there were headlines reflecting the interpretation Australia was under cyber-attack right now, Morrison observed that the government “doesn’t write the headlines” – which technically is correct, even though it was his announcement in Parliament House’s “Blue Room” on Friday that sparked those very headlines.

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