"no telco is any different i reckon"
Agree. Telstra would be just as leaky as Optus.
"name, date of birth, email, phone number, address ... drivers licence number or passport number."
The only reason I am not furious with Optus is the reality that my (and probably your) name, date of birth, email, phone number, address, data is already out there in scammers world somewhere. The cumulative data losses from all organisations to date has created a treasure trove for scammers. They buy and sell our data all the time.
They may not have had my drivers licence number until now. So that is bad news. But fortunately I didn't provide my Passport number to Optus. (I think).
:-(
(20min delay)