Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The information I have before me has been canvassed with respect to schedule 6. The term ‘national interest’ is currently used in the ASIO Act and has not been defined. The bill does not introduce the concept of national interest to the ASIO Act, but the sort of matters that might be encompassed by the term ‘national interest’ could include matters of importance to Australia’s international relations or to sustaining the economy. However, attempting to confine national interest to specific matters would defeat the purpose of this definition. In a democracy it is appropriate that the government of the day set its priorities and determine what is in the national interest. In the security context national interest may be informed by the National Security Statement and the national intelligence priorities which are set by the government and reviewed on at least an annual basis.

Also with respect to what I indicated earlier, enabling ASIO to cooperate with and assist law enforcement agencies primarily to facilitate technical assistance for interception, including through the National Interception Technical Assistance Centre, the bill enables ASIO, ASIS, DSD and DIGO to cooperate more closely. With respect to this cooperation and to assist one another in the performance of the other security agencies’ functions, it amends ASIO’s communication provisions to provide ASIO with sufficient flexibility to communicate intelligence with other intelligence agencies to complement the amendments to their ability to cooperate.