House debates
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Telecommunications Interception and Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2010
Consideration of Senate Message
Bill returned from the Senate with an amendment.
Ordered that the amendment be considered immediately.
Senate’s amendment—
(1) Page 33 (after line 5), at the end of the Bill, add:
Schedule 8—Membership of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security
Intelligence Services Act 2001
1 Subsection 28(2)
Repeal the subsection, substitute:
(2) The Committee is to consist of 11 members, 5 of whom must be Senators and 6 of whom must be members of the House of Representatives.
2 Paragraph 8(1)(b) of Schedule 1
Repeal the paragraph, substitute:
(b) either of the following happens before the Committee reports on the matter:
(i) the Committee as so constituted ceases to exist;
(ii) the constitution of the Committee changes;
3 Paragraph 18(1)(a) of Schedule 1
Omit “5”, substitute “6”.
4 Transitional—existing appointments not
affected
The amendments made by this Schedule do not affect an appointment, made before the commencement of this item, of a Senator or member of the House of Representatives as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
4:55 pm
Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I move:
That the amendment be agreed to.
Briefly, the government proposes to amend this bill by including an additional schedule 8, which will expand the membership of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security from nine to 11 members, and to increase a quorum of the committee from five to six members.
The amendments also clarify that the committee may continue to use evidence taken by or produced to it by the same or another parliament, even where the committee ceases to exist or its membership changes. A transitional provision is also included to ensure the amendments do not affect the appointment of members to the committee before the commencement of these amendments.
The committee provides an important role in the scrutiny of the administration and expenditure of Australia’s security and intelligence organisations and I recommend the amendments to the House.
Question agreed to.