Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank my colleagues for their contributions to the debate on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020. The government's first priority is to ensure the safety and security of all Australians. To this end it is critical to equip our law enforcement agencies and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, with the tools they need to gather intelligence and evidence to combat serious crimes, including child sexual abuse and terrorism. The bill creates a new framework in the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 for international production orders to obtain electronic data directly from communications providers in foreign countries pursuant to international agreements. Such international agreements, together with this legislation, will significantly increase the effectiveness of Australia's ability to detect, prevent, investigate and prosecute serious crime by reducing the significant delay caused by traditional international cooperation processes.

The increasingly sophisticated way in which criminals and national security threats target the Australian way of life must be combated with a modernised and fit-for-purpose international crime cooperation framework. The framework in the bill is underpinned by robust protections, oversight and accountability measures to ensure that data obtained in accordance with an agreement is accessed, handled and used appropriately, in line with the community's expectations.

The bill also ensures that Australian providers are able to respond to incoming orders and requests from trusted partner countries, from foreign countries which Australia has an agreement with. Australia must do its part to support its law enforcement partners and contribute to regional and global efforts to combat serious crime. The passage of this bill is a critical step to finalising a bilateral CLOUD Act agreement with the United States, a longstanding trusted partner and home to many global communications providers, including Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft.

The bill has been extensively reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and a report was tabled by the committee chair, Senator James Paterson, on 12 May 2020. The government thanks the committee for its review of these important reforms. This bill demonstrates that the government is committed to ensuring that Australia's law enforcement agencies and our foreign partners have effective tools to protect Australia, its peoples and its interests.

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