And yes, as many people have pointed out, Dan Tehan holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Melbourne. Not sure that is going to change his mind, however. Tanya Plibersek and Labor have officially responded to the government’s planned changes to university: “Young people have been hit particularly hard by this recession, and the Liberals are leaving them behind again. “Scott Morrison wants students to foot the bill for his government’s uni changes, with fees for some degrees more than doubling. “A couple of years ago, Scott Morrison cut uni places. Now he expects people to be grateful he’s reversed some of those cuts. Even after today’s announcement, thousands of Australians will still miss out on uni. “There’s double the number of year 12s who want to go to uni next year, but the Liberals refuse to open up enough places for them. “Youth unemployment’s gone through the roof in this recession: about one in six young people can’t find work, the worst situation in 20 years. If young people can’t earn, they should have the opportunity to learn. But many of them won’t be able to go uni because the government’s not providing enough places. “It’s a shame Scott Morrison wants young people to join the dole queue instead of letting them study. “Every one of Scott Morrison’s Liberal party cabinet ministers went to uni, but they don’t think our kids deserve the same chance.” Leadership is broken. From the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality to the marginalisation of minority communities around the world, our leaders are failing us. Self-serving and divisive, they are gambling with public health and the future of younger generations. We have to make them raise their game. This is what the Guardian is for. As an open, independent news organisation we investigate, interrogate and expose the incompetence and indifference of those in power. Your support helps us produce quality, trustworthy, fact-checked journalism every day - and publish it free so everyone can read. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you. Helen Sullivan has the international coronavirus blog up and running: Australia target of ongoing cyber attack by state-based actor What did we learn there? Not a lot, other than Australia has been the target of a “malicious” cyber attack campaign over many months. The personal data of Australians does not appear to be under threat. A “large range of sectors” are being targeted, ranging from governments to private industries. It has been going on for many months. We don’t know why the government chose to announce it today. It has determined that a “state-based actor” is to blame, but won’t say which one. The prime minister repeatedly made the point that there are only a handful of nations capable of this level of attack. He can’t stop people from speculating that China is to blame, but says the government hasn’t met the high threshold to point any fingers. Q: Is the motivation of these attackers to obtain state secrets and commercial intellectual property, or is it the personal data of everyday Australians? Scott Morrison: It is difficult to understand what one’s motivation might be for that. What is of interest to us is that it is occurring and what we are focused on is the practices that they’re employing and we have some of, if not the best agencies in the world, working on this and that means that they are putting all of their efforts in thwarting these attempts. I can confirm that they have thwarted many, but this is a very complex area and it requires constant persistence and application and that’s what they’re doing. I raise this not to raise the concerns of Australians but in many ways to reassure Australians that we understand what’s going on here and we are addressing it to best of our capabilities and we’re in a position to do that better than most countries in the world. We know what is going on. We’re on it but it is a day-to-day task that we’re applied to and we will continue to do that to keep Australians safe and if there are further updates from I or the minister, we will do that and any other agencies and we will keep working closely with them. As you know, as a result of this, I made some changes to my program this morning which I am now going to return to. I will be standing up again later today in another context but I appreciate you coming together this morning. Q: Why do you think these institutions in these sectors that you’ve outlined have been targeted? Scott Morrison: It is quite broad-based and we have seen similar activity across a broad base in many other jurisdictions around the world. What that does is just highlights that this is part of the new world we live in. Regrettably, this is not peculiar. This is part of the many threats that Australia has to deal with and I think that highlights the government’s early action under the former prime Minister, and I remember being there with him on the day when the cyber security strategy was released. That was a forward-thinking plan, with a forward-thinking investment and they are investments that I have continued on as prime minister – at the time I was Treasurer. They were important investments for us to make and I am glad we made them and we’re continuing to make them. As I flagged today, we will be making more because this is what keeping Australians safe looks like to make those investments. There can’t be any guarantees in this area. It is an area of rapidly advancing technology but that’s why our tech experts have worked closely with the sector to give the technical advice and information that Linda [Reynolds] has outlined for you today. I really encourage people to avail themselves to that. Many who have been working with us already have that information. Do the government know which state-based actor? Scott Morrison: I am saying the threshold for being able to answer your question along those lines is very high. What I can confirm, with confidence, based on the advice, the technical advice that we have received, is that this is the actions of a state-based actor with significant capabilities. There aren’t too many state-based actors who have those capabilities. Q: You say we haven’t reached the threshold for public attribution – that won’t stop people speculating it is China, particularly in light of their anger and trade retaliation for your inquiry into coronavirus. What do you say to people who will link it to China and naturally think it is China, given they have form in this field? Scott Morrison: I can only say what I have said. The Australian government is not making any public attribution about these matters. We are very confident that this is the actions of a state-based actor. We have not gone any further than that. I can’t control what speculation others might engage in on this issue or, frankly, any other. I have simply laid out the facts as we know them and as we have disclosed today. Q: When did this attack start and when was it brought to your attention? Also, you said you’re raising it to raise awareness in the community and business and governments but is there something about the scale of this attack that is unprecedented? Scott Morrison: I don’t know if I would use that word. As you’ll recall some time ago, I spoke of these issues in the parliament, so this is ongoing activity. It hasn’t just started. This is a constant threat to Australia, as it is to many other nations and you would be aware of many other nations having highlighted similar activity in their jurisdictions. This has been a constant issue for Australia to deal with and so I wouldn’t say that there has been any one event or any one instance. We have been dealing with cyber security threats from state-based actors for some time and I’ve alerted the public to that before. It has been an issue of ongoing management, defence and cooperation, working with private operators, other governments, all levels of government and other organisations. Q: Is this the act of a friendly nation? Scott Morrison: I have made my statement on the issues you raised. Q: There was quite a list of sectors and levels of government that you’re talking about. Can you break that down into entities – are we talking hundreds here, thousands who have been targeted? Morrison: There are many that have been targeted but, in terms of their success, that is not as significant. We will continue to work closely with the agencies. Today is about raising the awareness and those who are engaged in this are not doing this to help us. That’s certainly not their intention. You could describe it as malicious and that is why our awareness levels need to be raised. Who was it? The threshold for public attribution on a technical level is extremely high. Australia doesn’t engage lightly in public attributions and when and if we choose to do so is always done in the context of what we believe to be in our strategic national interests. What I can confirm is there are not a large number of state-based actors that can engage in this type of activity and it is clear, based on the advice that we have received, that this has been done by a state-based actor, with very significant capabilities. Were Australian’s personal or financial details at risk? Scott Morrison: The advice I have is that the investigations conducted so far have not revealed any large-scale personal data breaches. Can our partners and allies help? Morrison: We work closely with, particularly our allies and partners when it comes to managing issues of cyber security threats. That is a constant topic, as you would expect, particularly through Five Eyes partners. I spoke to Boris Johnson last night about a range of matters, including this one and there are a number of engagements with our allies overnight.