Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

All communication interception activities carried out by government agencies are conducted in strict accordance with Australian law. In Australia, the privacy of communications is protected by the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979, referred to as the interception act.

For the purposes of the act, interception of a communication passing over a telecommunications system consists of listening to or recording, by any means, such a communication in its passage over that system without the knowledge of the person making the communication. The interception act prohibits the listening to, the copying or recording of a communication as it passes over an Australian telecommunications system.

Agencies such as the police must obtain an independently issued warrant for the investigation of serious offences. ASIO has to obtain the authorisation of the Attorney-General for its warrants on matters pertaining to national security. There are limited circumstances in which information can be lawfully obtained through covert means. These include murder, organised crime and drug trafficking, as well as protecting our national security. Access to these powers is governed by significant accountability to and oversight by the Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Commonwealth agencies are required to maintain records relating to interceptions and the use, dissemination and destruction of intercepted information. This is the framework which governs any interception in the Australian context. This is the legal architecture. These records, I should add, must be inspected—and I emphasise 'must'—by the Commonwealth Ombudsman or the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security on a regular basis.