Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

The government does not support amendment No. 1 proposed by the Greens. The inclusion of paragraph (h) in the definition of sensitive information is based on the provision that currently applies in relation to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Crime Commission. Under the current subsection 59(6B) of the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002, the chair of the board of the Australian Crime Commission must not give the parliamentary committee information if the chair considers that disclosure of that information to the public could prejudice the safety or reputation of persons.

When dealing with a criminal intelligence agency such as the Australian Crime Commission, the sort of information that it may have available to it could have serious ramifications and cause highly detrimental prejudice to a person’s reputation. The inclusion of paragraph (h) in the definition of sensitive information in the bill is not designed to enable agencies to avoid providing material that might be embarrassing to their own members. It is about ensuring that information lawfully obtained by these agencies is not subsequently able to be made public in circumstances where it could cause irreparable and unfair prejudice to a person’s reputation. Such material must be handled appropriately and through normal criminal processes.