John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the review of Administration and Expenditure: No. 10 – Australian Intelligence Agencies.

Ordered that the report be printed.

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I am pleased to present the committee's 10th review of the administration and expenditure of the Australian intelligence community, which covers the 2010-11 financial year. This review examined a wide range of aspects of the administration and expenditure of the six intelligence and security agencies, including: the financial statements for each agency, and their human resources management, training, recruitment and accommodation. In addition, the review looked at issues of interoperability between members of the Australian intelligence community. Submissions were sought from each of the six intelligence and security agencies, from the Australian National Audit Office and from the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security.

The submissions from ANAO and six intelligence agencies were all classified as confidential, restricted or secret and therefore were not made available to the public. As has been its practice for previous reviews, ASIO provided the committee with both a classified and an unclassified submission. The unclassified submission was made available on the committee's website. Each of the defence intelligence agencies provided the committee with a classified submission. The agencies marked each paragraph with its relevant national security classification. This has enabled the committee, for its 2010-11 review, to directly refer in this report to unclassified information provided in the submissions of the defence agencies.

In relation to the organisation of agency structures, the director-general of ASIO—Mr David Irvine—told the committee about ASIO's internal reform program. He stated that the point of the reform program was, and I think it is best to quote him here:

not simply to meet the demand for efficiency dividends and so on; it is to address what I think is a key responsibility of anyone in a position of leadership within the intelligence community today, and that is to make sure that the intelligence community is prepared for tomorrow.

One agency introduced a new and expanded organisational structure to ensure appropriate focus and risk management across all aspects of that agency's expansion in operational activities. Another agency combined two areas of its responsibilities into one, so as to better focus on challenges in the current geopolitical environment.

Out of the six agencies, four reported having to accommodate legislative changes in 2010-11. In general, all agencies again stated their commitment to ensuring that their staff are informed of the legislative requirements—as they relate to agency functions and operations—and that, where applicable, they receive targeted training to ensure understanding and compliance. Apart from ASIO, those agencies experiencing growth in their workforce characterised it as marginal growth and some agencies actually decreased their full-time equivalent staffing levels.

The significant organisational growth experienced by some agencies has now abated and all agencies have succeeded in integrating large increases in staffing over recent years. ASIO, as recommended by the review of ASIO resourcing conducted by the late Mr Allan Taylor AM in 2005, did increase its staffing levels. In addition to the Taylor review, ASIO also experienced significant growth during 2010-11. This was due to the inclusion of border and territory sovereignty under the definition of security in the ASIO Act.

In relation to recruitment, the committee was satisfied that each of the agencies reviewed approached recruitment in a way that is sensitive to the national security issues that they deal with, whilst being open to attracting the best candidates from the diverse Australian community. I might say here that linguistic skill is important to all members of the Australian intelligence community and forms a vital part of workplace planning for agencies. It is very clear to our committee that linguistic skills are one of the key areas that intelligence agencies must develop and maintain. The committee did raise concerns with agencies in relation to some particular language groups. The committee was assured that those concerns were already being acted upon by the agencies in question.

The committee received an unclassified submission from the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, in which she raised some significant concerns about the administrative functions of the Australian intelligence community agencies. The committee very much values the input from the IGIS. Her contribution provided us with invaluable and well-informed, third party commentary on matters before the committee. The committee was satisfied that the administration of the six intelligence and security agencies is sound. Noting the evidence from the Australian National Audit Office, and within the constraints imposed by the Intelligence Services Act, the committee was satisfied that all agencies are appropriately managing the expenditure of their organisations. Needless to say, and as I have done before on behalf of the committee, we thank the heads of agencies who appeared before the committee and all those others who contributed to our review. I commend this review to the Senate.