Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection! Duncan from Salisbury expressed his concerns that 'there seems to be no concrete proposals for impartial oversight of access to this data'. However, the bill did include in its original form an increased role for the Commonwealth Ombudsman. That role is to include oversight of 'the preservation notices issued by criminal law enforcement agencies; and the access to and dealing with the stored data by the agencies'. Although the Ombudsman's office has the necessary expertise for this expanded role, it told the committee during the inquiry that it did not have the resources necessary to implement the tasks required of this expanded role. A sheriff starved of resources cannot cast a long shadow in the Badlands.

The PJCIS recommends that the government ensure that the office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman has the additional resources necessary to undertake these expanded oversight responsibilities. Additionally, the PJCIS recommended that the Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security notify the committee if they hold serious concerns about the operation of the scheme. Once notified, the committee should inquire into any matter raised in the reporting. This would be a substantial expansion of the oversight role of the intelligence committee—and this is a good thing.

The PJCIS's 2013 report included a review by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security no later than three years after its commencement. The bill introduced last year by Minister Turnbull did include a review, but in real terms the review would have been five years after the bill received royal assent. Obviously, with the implementation of such a radical mandatory scheme, a review within a shorter time frame is critical for appropriate oversight.

Another concern voiced by many of my constituents and shared by Labor is the potential impact on the freedom of the press. Tamara of Annerley says, 'I strongly oppose the use of metadata to track journalistic sources.' Elizabeth from Acacia Ridge says she believes the metadata regime is 'unfair and an infringement on citizen's freedoms and rights to privacy; not to mention the dire consequences for freedom of the press'. Labor believes that a warrant should be required for access to the telecommunications data of journalists.

The committee has recommended that it review the issue of how to deal with the authorisation of the use of data for the purposes of determining the identity of a journalist's source, and there is bipartisan agreement to conduct this comprehensive inquiry to sort it out. I am still wary of the warrant process, but it is better than what Minister Turnbull initially put forward. Legislation to ensure our security always requires a careful balancing of protecting our citizens and maintaining our freedoms, and upholding the rule of law is important. Daniel from Moorooka said, 'Limiting freedom to keep us safe from people wanting to limit our freedom is a slope I am genuinely fearful of.'

Labor is committed to national security. Labor is also conscious that extended powers of security agencies should be coupled with crucial external oversight. Senator Faulkner was the architect of a set of reforms which were designed to provide effective parliamentary oversight of intelligence and security agencies, and we will try to advance that. Labor has carefully scrutinised the recommendations of the committee and the consequential amendments the government has made to the bill. They have agreed to all 39 recommendations of that committee and hopefully will implement all of them.

Obviously, offshore storage is still something that I have a concern about, and it was mentioned in Malcolm Turnbull's speech back in 2012. I am concerned that we cannot, by contract, enforce Australian law overseas. It is important that we have debate about that and about a few other things in terms of the oversight and also the journalists being protected, and it is important that these concerns are addressed.

Labor has worked hard to ensure that this bill gets the balance between national security and personal freedoms right. I put forward this bill with the amendments that have been made, with my concerns noted about funding for the oversight, and with the subsequent changes and protections that will follow

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