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

Senator Brandis, I will take as long as I need, as will other crossbench senators and presumably government senators, to establish how this bill will actually operate in practice. Thank you, again, for your advice on how to conduct the debate but it is not required. The Alert Digest contains another issue on page 12 under the heading, Insufficiently defined administrative power—exercise of authority under warrant conferred upon a person or class of persons, and states:

Proposed subsection 24(2) would enable the Director-General (or her or his delegate) to approve a class of persons as people authorised to exercise the authority conferred by relevant warrants or relevant device recovery provisions.

Senator Brandis, can you explain for us how the execution of various warrants under the ASIO Act, which, as the committee points out, involves the exercise or may involve the exercise of significant coercive powers, and whether you consider that to be an operational matter? Again, I think those who drafted the Alert Digest are putting to us that the exercise of authority that has been delegated to various people is extraordinarily wide. This is one of the most complex and detailed Alert Digests that I have come across. So, if the minister is not willing to provide us, in writing, with his answers to the very serious questions that have been raised, then I do propose to take as much time as I think is necessary to make sure that it is clear.