Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is an absolute pleasure to be speaking today on the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Modernisation) Bill 2022. This legislation contributes to the government's longstanding commitment to ensure that oversight of Australia's intelligence agencies is commensurate with their responsibilities and powers—that is, ensuring that oversight of the agencies is fit for purpose. Australia's intelligence agencies play a critical role in keeping the Australian people safe and ensuring that Australia's national interests are safeguarded. Therefore, effective oversight of these agencies is crucial, and it is vital to building and maintaining trust in Australia's intelligence agencies.

A crucial role is conducted by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, who oversees the activities of Australian intelligence agencies for legality and propriety and for consistency with human rights. This bill will amend the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986 to make consequential amendments to related Commonwealth legislation to clarify and strengthen the Inspector-General's powers. It must be made known that a sizeable portion of these measures has been previously evaluated and unanimously supported by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

This legislation will ensure that the Inspector-General's current legislative framework is adapted to contemporary circumstances and continues to facilitate effective oversight. In addition, it is important that IGIS officials have the ability to access information that is required for their oversight purposes. This will provide strong powers to the Inspector-General, including full and free access to information to make copies or take extracts from documents held by intelligence agencies and the power to enter and remain on any premises.

This bill, in amending the IGIS Act as well as other Commonwealth legislation, will ensure that people are not prevented from disclosing information to Inspector-General officials for the purpose of those officials performing their duties or exercising their powers. Moreover, it is essential that individuals within our national intelligence community are able to fully disclose information to the Inspector-General without fear of committing an offence or breaching privacy laws.

Recommendations 172 and 174 of the Comprehensive Review of the Legal Framework of the National Intelligence Community recommend the following changes to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act: (1) they promote the independence of the IGIS and (2) they resolve an oversight gap to ensure that staff employed under the Office of National Intelligence Act 2018 have access to independent review of employment grievances. This bill would implement those recommendations by amending the act to prevent the head or deputy head of an agency within the IGIS jurisdiction from being appointed as the IGIS immediately after serving in that position and would allow the IGIS to consider employment grievances for staff employed under the Office of National Intelligence Act.

Important in enhancing Australia's integrity framework is robust information-sharing mechanisms, as they facilitate access to information required for oversight purposes. The bill introduces amendments to ensure that the IGIS is able to share information with other Commonwealth integrity bodies with appropriate safeguards. These amendments will support integrity bodies to obtain information available for oversight purposes and strengthen and also coordinate with other integrity bodies. It will also make a range of additional amendments to the IGIS Act, which was first introduced in 1986, to ensure that the legislation governing the IGIS is adapted to contemporary circumstances. This includes technical amendments to improve clarity and enhance the IGIS's oversight, functions and powers, such as (1) clarifying that the IGIS has the ability to inquire into human rights related issues in the absence of a referral from the Australian Human Rights Commission and (2) clarifying that the definition of 'IGIS official' includes staff acting in positions, contractors and secondees and enabling the IGIS to delegate their functions to assist the day-to-day functioning of the office of the IGIS. This bill would also make a number of amendments to modernise drafting expressions and remove redundant provisions.

This bill does not expand the jurisdiction of the IGIS in relation to additional national intelligence community or NIC agencies. Most measures in the bill were previously included in the Intelligence Oversight and Other Legislation Amendment (Integrity Measures) Bill 2020. The integrity measures bill was introduced into the House in December 2020 and referred to the PJCIS, which reviewed the integrity measures bill and handed down its report in February 2022. The bill lapsed with the dissolution of parliament on 11 April 2022. The integrity measures bill proposed amendments to expand the jurisdiction of the IGIS and the PJCIS to additional national intelligence community agencies. The complexity and significance of these matters warrant further consideration and consultation to develop an appropriate policy response. Therefore, they are not included in this bill. This bill focuses on amendments that are needed to modernise and enhance the IGIS's existing framework. Once again, just to reiterate, this piece of legislation really does contribute to the government's longstanding commitment to ensure oversight of Australia's intelligence agencies, especially in regard to their responsibilities and powers, and it ensures that oversight of the agencies is fit for purpose.

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