Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Nicholls and the other members who have participated in a really constructive debate about the legislation that's before the parliament this afternoon. The National Security Legislation Amendment (Comprehensive Review and Other Measures No. 3) Bill 2023 is the latest tranche of legislative amendments implementing recommendations from the 2019 Comprehensive Review of the Legal Framework of the National Intelligence Community. Additionally, the bill contains other targeted amendments identified as necessary by the intelligence community. The bill introduces amendments that will clarify and enhance the scope of the security assessment framework in part IV of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, strengthen protection for the identities and records containing identity information of certain intelligence personnel, clarify and enhance the authorisation processes for certain intelligence activities, and refine ASIO's functions regarding the security vetting and security clearance related activities.

I want to note that we're having a debate about this bill, which principally relates to the roles and responsibilities of and laws governing ASIO, in the context of what has been a really difficult time for national security in our country, with some recent events that have shocked the community. I want to briefly speak about the role that ASIO in particular has played in protecting the community so well over previous years. Probably not many Australians are aware of the work of this organisation, but ASIO and security organisations within the Commonwealth have assisted in thwarting 22 terrorist attacks that would otherwise have occurred in our country in the last decade. They do that because we've got a really mature system here, a system where state and federal authorities work really well together. The people who work in these amazing organisations are deep, thoughtful people who think a lot about the problems that they face and the manner in which they undertake their work.

Our organisations are excellent, in part because of their ability to change consistently according to the shape and the scope of the threat that they face. This is particularly relevant, because some of the attacks that we've seen over the last little period have actually been quite different to the type of terrorist incident that ASIO and other organisations were focused on, if we roll back, perhaps, for a decade. One of the things that has changed quite dramatically about the shape of our terrorist threat in this country is the way in which people are targeting terrorist attacks today. If we think back to the 9/11 tragedy and the extent of elaborate planning, financing and work that went into setting up that attack, we see something quite different today—for example, in a recent incident in Australia where a teenager used a knife at very short notice allegedly to attack someone violently. Something else that we see that's very challenging for our national security agencies is a much faster time of what they call 'from clash to bang'. What that means is the process that someone goes through from radicalisation, to thinking about violence and then to actually committing an act of violence is getting narrower and narrower. This, of course, creates really significant challenges for our law enforcement officials.

The third thing that I want to mention is the very obvious presentation of young people as part of the issue here. This is a very significant transformation in the way that this problem has presented itself to our country. When I talk to the ASIO staff about some of what they've seen over previous years, they talk about seeing a very significant uptick of young people in the alleged and potential terrorist cohort when we came out of COVID. They say to me that this is about young people who are being removed from their community, who are not doing things like going to school and playing sport but who are, instead, spending inordinate amounts of time on the internet and looking at materials that are a negative influence on those young people. I make this point because I know a lot of parents around the country are looking at this. It's not the only instance which is making parents really worried about the way in which young people in this country are being influenced, the way in which they are being raised and the way that we, as a parliament and as a community, can make sure there are strong, positive influences in the lives of young people around our country. This is something I talk to ASIO staff about a lot. These are security and intelligence professionals, but they will be the first to tell you that by the time a matter lands in the lap of ASIO it's already gone too far. We've got to think much more, as a community and as a parliament, about how we're going to make sure that we intervene as early as possible to make sure that we keep our community safe. There aren't many countries in the world where the intelligence organisations are respected to the degree that they are here in Australia. I want to use this opportunity to thank ASIO and to thank our other security and intelligence agencies, on behalf of the federal parliament.

Returning to the bill: the government accepts recommendation 1 made by the PJCIS. I note that reporting will remain consistent with ASIO's approach to releasing information about its activities through its annual report. This approach balances the need for transparency against the risk of compromising national security through the inclusion of classified appendices which are provided to the Minister for Home Affairs, the Leader of the Opposition, the PJCIS, the IGIS and the INSLM. These are acronyms which govern the protection of the community and the management of intelligence organisations.

The government also accepts recommendation 2, and will ensure that applicants are made aware of their right to make a complaint to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security in relevant documentation and advice about security assessments and security clearance processes.

The government accepts recommendation 3, and has amended the explanatory memorandum accordingly. The Australian Signals Directorate will also report to the committee on its development, implementation and use of cover arrangements.

The government notes recommendation 4, and will consider any recommendations made by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor's review of the secrecy offences in part 5.6 of the Criminal Code, when that review is completed.

Finally, the government welcomes recommendation 5, noting that it is a matter for the parliament. I thank the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills for the work they have done here. The publishing of ASIO identities has a very real prospect of resulting in harm to ASIO staff and affiliates.

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