No probe on leaked gun list

NO forensic audit of an accidentally leaked list of gun owners has apparently been commissioned, despite fresh concerns of firearm theft.

In January the State Government apologised to almost 9000 gun owners after a data breach saw gun owners’ personal information — including their addresses where guns were stored — accidentally emailed out to eight people.

Several farmers in the Geelong region have reported the theft of firearms in recent weeks

However, police have claimed no link between the data breach and the thefts had been made with investigations continuing.

A Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) spokesman said the organisation remained confident any potential risk had been mitigated or erased.

“DELWP contacted the eight customers and is confident that the shared data has either been deleted or was never received due to the file size,” the spokesman said.

“We note that Victoria Police have also confirmed the thefts are not believed to be linked to any information breaches.

“In addition to the immediate steps taken, a key action DELWP committed to was an independent investigation into the incident, conducted by Wise workplaces in early 2017. The findings of this review will be released shortly.”

The Geelong Advertiser also contacted the officer of the Commissioner for Privacy and Data Protection but a spokesman said a representative was unavailable for comment.

Victoria Police spokesman Thomas O’Byrne told the Geelong Advertiser this week that firearms and valuables were stolen from two rural properties in Modewarre in two separate incidents in April and May, with a third theft in Whittington earlier this month.

Modewarre farmer Ross Matthews had $30,000 worth of guns stolen from his property and expressed concern that his details were passed on to bikie associates who cased his farm.

The gun collector said his neighbours had also been hit — with some having up to 13 firearms registered, the majority shotguns.