Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Surveillance Legislation (Confirmation of Application) Bill 2024 will clarify that information collected by the Australian Federal Police during Operation Ironside was lawfully obtained.

Operation Ironside was a major organised crime investigation undertaken by the AFP between 2018 and 2021. It involved the AFP developing the capability to collect communications over the AN0M application to allow covert surveillance of alleged organised crime networks.

Copies of communications sent using the AN0M application were transmitted to servers in Australia. The AFP obtained evidence from those servers in accordance with warrants independently issued under the Surveillance Devices Act 2004 and Crimes Act 1914.

The AFP's collection of evidence from the AN0M application has been challenged by defendants in a prosecution arising from Operation Ironside. The defendants allege that the collection of evidence from the AN0M application involved the interception of communications pursuant to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979,and therefore required warrants to be obtained under that act—rather than under the Surveillance Devices Act.

The Supreme Court of South Australia and the South Australian Court of Appeal found that the information collected using the AN0M application was not obtained through an interception of communications pursuant to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act.

The bill is consistent with the decisions of the Supreme Court of South Australia and the South Australian Court of Appeal, by providing that:

information, or a record, obtained under a relevant warrant is taken for all purposes not to have been obtained by intercepting a communication, and

information, or a record, obtained in reliance, or purported reliance, on a relevant warrant is taken for all purposes to have been obtained under that warrant.

The bill will not alter the existing law, or the operation of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, Surveillance Devices Act or the Crimes Act.

The bill is targeted in its scope and will only apply to information or records obtained under a specified range of warrants issued in connection with Operation Ironside.

Conclusion

The bill will provide certainty by clarifying that the activities in question were undertaken in a manner that was consistent with parliament's intent when enacting the relevant provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act, Surveillance Devices Act and the Crimes Act.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.