Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

That was a stunning personal attack on me, and one that is unwarranted. And I would hope that, after I finish speaking, the minister would retract. Yes, I was a member of that committee. I was very proud to have been a member of that committee and to have produced this report. And it was a consensus report, which I think was a remarkable achievement for a committee that had such a wide range of members on it. And crucially I agreed with recommendation 41:

The Committee recommends that the draft amendments to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 and the Intelligence Services Act 2001, necessary to give effect to the Committee’s recommendations, should be released as an exposure draft for public consultation. The Government should expressly seek the views of key stakeholders, including the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor and Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

In addition, the Committee recommends the Government ensure that the draft legislation be subject to Parliamentary committee scrutiny.

In other words: it was the consensus report of the committee in the 43rd Parliament that if these were to be progressed, they were to be fleshed out in detail and to be looked at again, and that all of us, myself included, were reserving our rights on how we would approach that next episode.

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