Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to also fully support the Telecommunications Interception and Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2010. This bill is another important step forward in protecting the Australian people. It will allow this country’s leading law enforcement agencies, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Defence Signals Directorate and the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation to work cooperatively and effectively.

Prior to coming to this place I spent many years representing respective police jurisdictions across the country. As a consequence I have a very healthy respect for the work of the men and women of our police forces. I certainly have an undying appreciation for the work they do in making our country safe. Police officers in areas I was less familiar with, particularly in the intelligence areas, certainly have a very important job to do. Their job is ever changing and we must provide them with the necessary tools to do their job on behalf of the people of this country.

During my time with the Police Federation Australia I had a significant involvement in the early stages of some of the discussions about telecommunications intercepts. I know that, from a criminal point of view, it is certainly a very significant tool in combating not only organised crime but other aspects that police become involved in including issues of terrorism.

Clearly, across the broader perspective of securing the safety of the nation this aspect is absolutely crucial. Our law enforcement agencies require the development of equally sophisticated methods of accessing telephone intercepts because those we compete against, who are seeking to inflict or potentially inflict damage on this country and its people, are very sophisticated—the same sophistication as would be applied to the capabilities of organised crime. Those involved in planning aggressive acts against this country and its people are not lacking when it comes to intellectual ability with respect to communication systems. Therefore, we must ensure that our people who are charged with that vital responsibility of protecting Australia and its people have the necessary tools to do their job and do that job effectively.

That is why this piece of legislation is so important: to ensure greater cooperation between our respective agencies. As it stands now, under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act it is not possible for ASIO to intercept communications on behalf of smaller agencies which have limited interception abilities. Quite frankly, we cannot expect our law enforcement and security agencies to do all the things that we require of them if we insist on tying their hands behind their backs.

This bill amends the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act to allow ASIO to intercept on behalf of other agencies. It will also enable ASIO to provide the necessary range of technical and logistical assistance and support to other agencies which have obtained warrants to intercept communications. This will help facilitate a whole-of-government approach when we speak of national security.

It is not possible for any government to guarantee that Australia will be free from the threat of terrorism. But this government can guarantee that we will take all necessary and practical measures to combat the threat of terrorism. With the emerging threat of home-grown terrorism it is now more important than ever that our security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the right tools and resources to assist them to identify terrorists and potential terrorist organisations, as well as the ability to take protective action.

One thing I would like to note is that our constituents do not see any great distinction between our different law enforcement agencies when it comes to the issue of national security. They simply want to know that things are happening and that they are going to be protected. They certainly are not going to go down and look for some dividing line between various agencies. They simply want protection for themselves and their families. I think that is quite an acceptable position for our constituents. It is certainly one that we need to have regard to, and we need to relieve some of the interjurisdictional burden when it comes to information sharing to ensure that our overall objectives are being achieved.

With this in mind, I fully support the bill and the amendments, which allow for greater flexibility of ASIO to share information that it has with other intelligence agencies within the broader national security community. Importantly, the amendments in this bill preserve the accountability framework which guarantees the way that agencies can acquire and rely on that provided information.

This bill does not extend the jurisdiction of the role of ASIO. The bill does not affect the distinction between law enforcement and intelligence functions. Arrests and prosecutions will remain within the province of the police and the prosecutorial agencies. ASIO’s primary function will remain the gathering and analysing of intelligence.

The bill also makes amendments to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act to improve the operations of that act. These amendments will mean that nominated carriers of service providers are required to regularly inform the Communications Access Coordinator of proposed changes to their service and networks which may affect the carrier’s ability to meet its legal obligation to assist interceptions for that agency.

As a parent, I can only imagine the fear and anxiety that must come when a child or family member goes missing. If I were ever faced with that horrible situation, I would expect that our police and our law enforcement agencies would do all that they possibly could to find the loved one. That is why I think it would be common sense to expect that everybody would fully support the thrust of this bill, which will provide support to our police in finding missing persons. The amendment will allow police to obtain and use telecommunications data such as phone records to assist the finding of a person or, regrettably, in some instances a victim. The amendments also give police access to the stored communications of victims of crime when the victim cannot be located or is unable to give consent to their communications being accessed.

Last year a young woman from Cecil Hills was lured by a communication through, in this case, Facebook—and I know that is beyond Australia’s jurisdiction—to meet with a person she thought was an animal rights activist, unfortunately just down the road from where I live. That person lured her there with a view to assaulting and murdering her, and that is what occurred. I know part of the investigation involved access to her phone records and that is the sort of thing that is being looked at in this legislation. It is not about what is carried on Facebook, which is beyond our jurisdiction, being an international server, but it is certainly about having access to the phone records of the victim in this case.

Regrettably, we all have stories about the way people have been pursued through electronic means. I have to say that this is not something I grew up with, but as a parent and grandparent it is something that I am very conscious of. I think that most parents out there would think that the thrust of this legislation, allowing law enforcement authorities to access stored material, text messages and all those sorts of things that will assist the police to locate missing persons as well as victims, is something that should be applauded.

I support the bill because it offers greater assistance to not only our intelligence agencies but also our police to do their work. It gives them greater tools, greater resources, without extending their jurisdiction to undertake what is expected of them within a modern community. With that, I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context