Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am waiting for the member for Sturt to be quiet. There is no more important area of government policy than providing for the safety and security of the Australian people, but that would appear to be a matter which the member for Sturt is not interested in. It is an area which greatly interests me and, for that reason, I felt privileged to be appointed by this House a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. That is, of course, the committee that provides parliamentary oversight to the national security agencies: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, the Defence Signals Directorate and the Office of National Assessments. The oversight of these agencies by the elected members of this parliament is important because it provides the assurance of accountability of these agencies to the people of Australia.

It is a fact that our nation at present faces serious security challenges—some of them old and well known; some of them new and not so well known—and I refer to the changing nature of the challenges of terrorism; the need to build and sustain regional stability; our ability to support our Pacific neighbours and ensure that failed states do not become the rule for our region; the havoc being wreaked by HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis both in our region and further afield; and the potential havoc that we would face with a communicable disease pandemic. These kinds of security challenges require us to think with clarity and to respond strategically. They require integrated and well-coordinated policy making at the highest level of government, which is why I seek to raise these matters in the consideration in detail in this session on the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio.

We need to be strategic in how we gather and assess intelligence, in how intelligence informs policy making through the advice provided by our security agencies and in how these policies achieve the national security outcomes that will ensure that Australia maintains security. The recent release of the papers from the Hope royal commission are a reminder that recognition of the need for national security planning and coordination is not new. It was as clear when Hope was considering these matters as it is today. It has been part of the long-term direction of several Australian governments that there be coordination and integration in the security and intelligence area.

Our government made an election commitment to establish an Office of National Security in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet—and the member for Sturt has raised the Office of National Security among the many questions that he has posed to the parliamentary secretary. The Office of National Security is to be headed by a national security adviser and, as has been accepted by the member for Sturt—which I took to be something of a compliment—the government has delivered on our election commitment by establishing and funding this new office. Its objective is to develop, provide advice on, coordinate and integrate comprehensive whole-of-government national security policy and provide strategic oversight on its implementation. The questions that I have for the parliamentary secretary are these. What will be the role of the Office of National Security? How does the role of the office differ from the national security division in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet? Is the parliamentary secretary able to provide the House with an update on the progress of the appointment of the national security adviser who is to head up the Office of National Security?

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