Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I move government amendment (1) on sheet AF255:

(1)    Page 33 (after line 5), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 8Membership of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security

Intelligence Services Act 2001

1  Subsection 28(2)

Repeal the subsection, substitute:

        (2)    The Committee is to consist of 11 members, 5 of whom must be Senators and 6 of whom must be members of the House of Representatives.

2  Paragraph 8(1)(b) of Schedule 1

Repeal the paragraph, substitute:

             (b)    either of the following happens before the Committee reports on the matter:

                   (i)    the Committee as so constituted ceases to exist;

                  (ii)    the constitution of the Committee changes;

3  Paragraph 18(1)(a) of Schedule 1

Omit “5”, substitute “6”.

4  Transitional—existing appointments not affected

The amendments made by this Schedule do not affect an appointment, made before the commencement of this item, of a Senator or member of the House of Representatives as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.

The government proposes to amend the bill by including an additional schedule 8, which will expand the membership of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The amendment consists of four items. The first item proposes a government amendment to subsection 28(2) of the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to expand the membership of the committee from nine to 11 members. As a result of the increase in membership of the committee, item 3 proposes to increase the quorum of the committee from five to six members. Item 2 clarifies paragraph 8(1)(b) of schedule 1 of the Intelligence Services Act to ensure the committee may continue to use evidence taken by or produced to it during the same or another parliament, even where the committee ceases to exist or its membership changes. Finally, item 4 includes a transitional provision to ensure the amendment does not affect the appointment of members to the committee before the commencement of this government amendment.

This committee provides an important role in the scrutiny of administration and expenditure of Australia’s security and intelligence organisations. I recommend the government amendment to the Senate.