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

As it stands at the moment, I wonder whether you are prepared to directly contradict or express that the Scrutiny of Bills Committee simply got it wrong when they said the provision has the effect of extending to ASIO affiliates—such as contractors and subcontractors, which you have identified would also need to be ASIO officers, and I do not quite understand how that would then apply to contractors or their subcontractors. We will come back to that in a moment—an exception from the prohibition on the interception of a communication passing over a telecommunications system. Would you define that as an administrative task rather than an operational one? If you do, I might need to ask you: what is your definition of an operational activity? If it is the case that those who drafted the Alert Digest just have completely got it wrong, then I will let the issue rest, because I suspect there is plenty more that other senators want to ask. This seemed to me to be extremely important. A very broad range of people are potentially going to have powers delegated to them and there does not appear to be any circumscribing of the kinds of powers that can be delegated out, and it would appear, at least on the reading of this report, that that could include anything up to and including installing surveillance equipment or wire-taps. If, as I say, the committee simply got it wrong, I will not detain the chamber any further.