25 August 2020. Channel 7 Late News. Michael Usher (presenter) with Katina Michael. Thank you to my fellow collaborator Dr Roba Abbas of the University of Wollongong.
The COVIDSafe contact tracing app was launched in Australia in April 2020 as a way to reduce the transmission of COVID among citizens. 1 million downloads occurred within the first 24 hours of the App’s availability. The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) of the Australian Government was in charge of procurement and deployment of COVIDSafe which has received widespread criticism for its failure to work correctly and effectively. The original COVIDSafe App that was deployed was riddled with bugs and came under immense scrutiny from privacy and security scholars and practitioners in Australia. Some have declared COVIDSafe a failure, while others are imploring Australians to give it a go, despite a plateauing of a second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria, where the App was abandoned for a period of time by State Health officials. What does the future hold for these kinds of Apps? Government as innovator? Public private partnership formations, with the likes of Apple and Google? Should we persist or give up on such applications?
The Full Audio Recording
As it so often happens, television grabs are at best 60 seconds to 3.30 minutes. This segment was a pre-record on the same day it aired. It means you engage with the network earlier in the day, film it as if it were live with the presenter, and then there is an editing process. As so often happens, the interview is much reduced, and as as the “expert” you get to know which “lines” delivered will make it into the final story and which words won’t make the final cut. Here is the raw interview. Michael Usher is a great presenter, in fact, I feel there’s a calming force about him, professional as they come, and very courteous! Loved this interview because I was at ease, though as always you want to mention so much more than what you have room to. It was completed in one take which always makes me happy and the production crew too!
Citation: Katina Michael with Michael Usher, 25 August 2020, “The Australian COVIDSafe App - Success or Failure? 4 months on”, Late News: Channel 7, https://7news.com.au/