Prime Minister’s bank records accessed, breach of privacy
July 2, 2026
People looking into other peoples bank accounts without authority is a longstanding and chronic problem in banks and other financial institutions. It gave rise to a ground breaking case recognising a cause of action for breach of privacy in Canada with the case of Jones v Tsige in 2012. Often the breaches involve a person checking on the accounts of a family member, partner or neighbour. Banks have quite good controls to detect such suspicious activity. The almost invariable outcome is instant quiet termination. But the unauthorised access into Prime Minister Albanese’s banking records is not low key and the result has not been quiet dismissal. As the Australian reports with Ernst & Young graduate charged over allegedly accessing prime minister’s bank details it has been high profile and charges have been laid against the alleged snooper. As the story notes the bank in question, the CBA, discovered the breach when its internal system triggered a flag. That is the common method.
While the Prime Minister almost certainly has a claim for serious invasion of privacy against the EY graduate whether he does anything is another question.
The article provides:
A graduate from Ernst & Young has been charged after allegedly accessing the prime minister’s banking details.
Another person has also been charged in connection with the alleged incident, who is understood not to be employed by EY.
It is alleged they accessed the material while one of pair was on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank.
The EY graduate was terminated from their employment after an internal investigation.
CBA is believed to have alerted EY after the bank’s internal system triggered a flag.
The Australian Federal Police said they charged two Sydney men on May 6, with allegedly accessing restricted personal banking data belonging to a federal parliamentarian. Read the rest of this entry »