ABC: Federal Circuit and Family Court data was offshored to India more than a decade ago (Auscript) with little action — VIQ Solutions later breached its Commonwealth contract the same way and was liquidated
ABC News reported on 16 October 2026 that newly surfaced emails show sensitive Australian federal court transcription data was sent to India more than a decade ago under Auscript, and that court leadership treated the 2014 disclosure as a minor issue despite contract language forbidding transfer of information outside Australia. Former Auscript national manager Paul Cutbush raised Public Interest Disclosures with the family court, Federal Court and AFP in December 2014; a 2016 family court reply said there was 'no express provision' preventing offshore work, while Cutbush says the contract did forbid it. ABC links that history to VIQ Solutions (Auscript's successor), which earlier in 2026 breached its Commonwealth contract by allowing highly sensitive court files to be accessed in India; shortly after ABC coverage of that breach, VIQ was put into liquidation amid calls for a forensic audit and national-security concerns. A Federal Circuit and Family Court spokesperson said current leadership was unaware of the earlier Auscript offshoring. Shadow Attorney-General Michaela Cash and Greens leader David Shoebridge called for investigation. Primary: ABC News.
- Product
- Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia transcription supply chain (Auscript historically; VIQ Solutions subsequently)
- Versions
- n/a — incident / governance reporting (Auscript concerns raised Dec 2014; VIQ India access breach earlier in 2026; ABC story 16 Oct 2026)
- Exploited in Australia?
- unknown
- Patch to
- Court and agency procurement teams: verify transcription and legal-services contracts explicitly ban offshore processing, require Australia-only hosting with audit rights, and treat supplier offshoring as a notifiable security event. Organisations still using legacy court-transcript vendors: confirm where audio and text are processed and who can access them.