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

No, I will not be prolix or even otiose; I just want to get on with it! In the United States, it can be said that media organisations are, as a general rule, consulted in relation to the access to metadata. That is my understanding of the protocols that have existed. Items (5) and (6) are consequential to the passage of item (4). Item (7) inserts a note after proposed section 180R to specify that the public interest advocate must be notified—that has been dealt with.

Item (8) amends the bill so that the same requirements of the minister as set out in item (4) of my amendments also apply to the issuing authority. This ensures consistency and that the public interest is a paramount consideration in the decision made by any authority in issuing a journalist information warrant. Item (9) amends proposed section 180X, which relates to the public interest advocates. These amendments set out the requirement for a notice to be provided to the advocates in relation to journalist information warrants. The amendments provide that the notice must be provided in writing and include the information or material that was provided with a request or application and any other information as prescribed by regulation.

Further, the amendments include provisions to ensure that the advocate will be provided with any further information requested of the relevant authorities by the minister or issuing authority, or notified if the request to provide information is refused. The amendments also provide that the advocate may make submissions to the minister or the issuing authority about matters relevant to the issuing of the warrant. The advocate may also specify conditions or limitations to be placed on a warrant if necessary. The amendments also specify that the advocate must have particular regard to protecting the public interest and the need to act as a contradictor or devil's advocate to the person requesting the warrant. Further, the amendments provide that the regulations may prescribe matters relating to the role of the public interest advocate and that the declaration made by the minister or by the Prime Minister to declare a person as an advocate is not a disallowable instrument.

The aim of these amendments is to flesh out the role of the public interest advocate to ensure that it has specific roles and duties to maintain the public interest and act as a true advocate. The amendments I propose will provide greater protection for journalists through greater scrutiny of the journalist information warrant process. Without an active, appropriately focused advocate who has the ability to ask journalists or media organisations about aspects of the application, I think the public interest advocate will be quite circumscribed in what they can do. Also, I referred in my speech to the second reading debate to the sorts of concerns that Associate Professor Clinton Fernandes has raised about the public interest advocate, which I will not unnecessarily restate now.