Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It was a very clear and different point. It is about how far the proposed prosecutions go under this—a point about which I have asked nothing before and about which the minister has said nothing. People could go to jail under this legislation, so I am asking the minister a very simple question. If a network administrator believes that their network has been hacked because it has been accessed by ASIO under one of these warrants and they take steps to fix it or they publicly disclose it, are they subject to prosecution under this? That has not been traversed in any of the debates so far. It is a very simple question. If the minister cares at all about someone's individual liberty and the people who manage computer networks, he should be able to give a very simple answer about how these provisions apply. The government is coming in here saying, 'We want sweeping new powers that can send people to jail,' and they cannot even define the offence for us. The minister should hang his head in shame if he cannot tell the public whether or not they are going to jail for doing something as simple as saying: 'I think the network's been hacked. I'm going to fix it,' or 'I think my network's been hacked. I'm going to report it.' The minister, if he cares about individual liberties, should be able to answer that question.

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