It would not at all shock me to learn that the hardcoded password is in response to Australia's insane anti-encryption bill [0]. Pretty much everything it demands is insane. Like blocking notification of any senior personnel, allowing them to force a more junior member to carry out the will of the government or the entire business suffers the consequences.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/09/austr...