Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

At the risk of exasperating the Attorney—and I am not intending to—there is a proposition in the Alert Digest that asks what safeguards will apply, given that ASIO affiliates are not employees of the organisation. If my questions are based on a false premise, they are based on the Alert Digest in front of me. That, I think, will help crystallise the question. In other words: what safeguards are there given that ASIO affiliates are not employees of the organisation? Is the Attorney saying—I am not trying to answer the question for the Attorney—that the premise of the Alert Digest of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills is mistaken in its approach to this particular legislation? If that is the case, I cannot take it any further. But, if he considers that there is an issue with respect to safeguards that needs to be at least addressed, then it would be useful to address it now.