Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will say this as plainly as I can, Minister. I do not think any of the submitters raised issues about intelligence agencies sharing intelligence between each other. I did not address that in my speech or in my questioning. So I am happy to set that issue aside as uncontroversial. I am interested, however, in the fact that we have had an acknowledgement now that there is a vastly broader range of agencies through a set of criteria with which ASIO can now share intelligence and that in fact it does not need to relate to the commission of a crime; it needs to relate to an undefined national interest. I think that is of concern.

Coming to the criteria which you did offer to talk us through before, I understand that there are some broad statutory criteria that are set out in this bill, that is that the relevant information relates to a possible breach of the law the agency administers and that that breach attracts a term of imprisonment of at least one year. So that sets the bar at a certain level. But beyond that, which is very broad, what further criteria will be developed or employed to determine when information should be shared?