Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I present a supplementary explanatory memorandum to the bill. I ask leave of the Federation Chamber to move government amendments (1) to (6) as circulated together.

Leave granted.

I move:

(1) Clause 2, page 3 (after table item 8), insert:

(2) Clause 2, page 3 (at the end of the table), add:

(3) Schedule 5, items 31 to 33, page 38 (lines 9 to 14), omit the items.

(4) Schedule 5, item 67, page 46 (line 10), omit "sections 35 and 38A", substitute "section 35".

(5) Page 52 (after line 20), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 7 — Notification of certain critical infrastructure or telecommunications security assessments

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979

1 Subsection 38(1A)

Repeal the subsection.

2 Section 38A

Repeal the section.

3 Subsection 54(2)

Omit "or 38A".

4 Application provision — repeal of section 38A of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979

The amendments of Part IV of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 made by this Schedule apply in relation to a security assessment in respect of a person that is furnished by the Organisation on or after the commencement of this Schedule.

5 Application provision — confirmation of application of section 38 of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 to certain critical infrastructure or telecommunications assessments

(1) The object of this item is to confirm the application of section 38 of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 in relation to an adverse or qualified security assessment (a relevant assessment) that was furnished:

(a) by the Organisation:

(i) in connection with section 58A, 315A or 315B of, or clause 57A or 72A of Schedule 3A to, the Telecommunications Act 1997; or

(ii) for the purposes of section 32 of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018; and

(b) at a time before the commencement of this Schedule; and

(c) to a Minister who, at that time, was not the ASIO Minister.

(2) A notice given, or purportedly given, by a Commonwealth agency for the purposes of subsection 38(1) of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 in relation to a relevant assessment is taken for all purposes to have been, and to always have been, given under that subsection.

(3) A certificate issued, or purportedly issued, by the ASIO Minister for the purposes of subsection 38(2) of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 in relation to a relevant assessment is taken for all purposes to have been, and to always have been, issued under that subsection.

(4) To avoid doubt, anything done, or anything purported to have been done, by a person that would have been wholly or partly invalid except for subitem (2) or (3) is taken for all purposes to be valid and to have always been valid, despite any effect that may have on the accrued rights of any person.

(5) For the purposes of applying this item in relation to civil or criminal proceedings, this item applies in relation to:

(a) civil and criminal proceedings instituted on or after the commencement of this Schedule; and

(b) civil and criminal proceedings instituted before commencement, being proceedings that are concluded:

(i) before the commencement of this Schedule; or

(ii) on or after the commencement of this Schedule.

(6) In this item:

ASIO Minister means the Minister administering Part II of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979.

do a thing includes:

(a) make a decision (however described); and

(b) exercise a power, perform a function, comply with an obligation or discharge a duty; and

(c) do anything else;

and purport to do a thing has a corresponding meaning.

(6) Page 52, at the end of the Bill (after proposed Schedule 7), add:

Schedule 8 — Other amendments

Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018

1 Section 60AAA

Repeal the section.

2 Section 60B

Omit "3 years", substitute "5 years".

The Security of Critical Infrastructure and Other Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Response and Prevention) Bill 2024 is a third and—you'll be pleased to know!—final bill in the Cyber Security Legislative Package. This bill seeks to amend the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, the SOCI Act, to strengthen existing security obligations on critical infrastructure sectors and address gaps identified following recent major incidents impacting critical infrastructure. I thank the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for its work on this bill through its inquiry and recommendations. That committee made two recommendations, recommendations 12 and 13, in its advisory report that require further amendments to the bill which the government agrees to implement.

To implement recommendation 12, the government is introducing an amendment to this bill to amend section 60B of the SOCI Act to extend the committee's ability to initiate a review into the operation, effectiveness and implications of the SOCI Act from three years to five years from royal assent of the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Act 2021, SLACI Act. The government acknowledges the importance of conducting a holistic review of the SOCI Act after the amendments being made by this bill are implemented. Under section 60A of the SOCI Act, the Minister for Home Affairs must cause an independent review into the operation of the SOCI Act, which Minister Burke intends to commence by no later than 1 November 2025. Together, this approach will ensure an independent review can fully assess the operation of the SOCI Act in time to inform the committee's next review.

Pursuant to recommendation 13, the government is introducing an amendment to this bill to repeal section 60AAA of the SOCI Act, removing the now redundant six-monthly reporting to the committee relating to consultation undertaken by the department on the amendments made by the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure Protections) Act 2022 and the SLACI Act.

In addition to the response to the committee's advisory report the government amendments to this bill include a technical amendment to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, the ASIO Act, to clarify provisions relating to the ministerial responsibility for protecting ASIO information and giving notice of an adverse or qualified security assessment in respect of an assessed person in connection with certain provisions of the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the SOCI Act. I commend the bill to the Chamber.

Question agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House with amendments.

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