Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting the Democrats amendment. The significant reasons for that were dealt with in the reply. The Democrats indicated that they had additional concerns. The primary purpose of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008 is to extend the network protection sunset provisions by 18 months to allow a longer term solution to be implemented, recognising of course that the opposition have also sought that that be brought on well before the sunset provision expires.

In line with recommendation 1 from the substantive Senate committee report, any proposed amendments to the network protection provisions will aim to balance network protection requirements and individual privacy rights. Additionally, the government have undertaken to accept for further consideration recommendation 6 and 7 of the substantive Senate committee report for an independent review of the T(IA) Act within three years together with legislative amendments to require further review every five years. I think that adequately addresses issues raised by Senator Bartlett in his amendment. It would provide further complications if the government were to accept the nature of the review outlined in Senator Bartlett’s amendment. I think Senator Bartlett accepts that it is a complex and technical area. It will require the government to put its shoulder to the wheel to provide a legislative solution and provide it in a timely manner to allow those parties who have an interest in this area to examine it to ensure it balances the rights of the privacy concerns of individuals and the requirements of law enforcement agencies to legitimately target criminals and ensure that they are brought to justice, and to safeguard our national security interests, which are of concern to this government. We want to ensure not only that we strike the right balance but also that our law enforcement agencies are ably equipped to deal with the complex and technical issues and deal with criminals who continue to pursue things down every avenue available to avoid detection.

With those short words, I understand Senator Bartlett’s interest. However, I want to comment on one last matter. As Senate committees have come forward over time and dealt with each individual piece of legislation, I think it is not fair to say that they have not been drawn on the past history of committee reports in a more holistic way to examine this area, notwithstanding that there has been a range of external reviews that have looked into this particular area.

Question negatived.

I table a supplementary explanatory memorandum relating to the government amendments to be moved to this bill. The memorandum was circulated in the chamber today.

Chair, I am at the indulgence of the participants in the debate today as to whether government amendments can be moved in a block.