Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to the bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The Government's first priority is ensuring the safety and security of all Australians. It is vital that our law enforcement agencies have effective tools to protect the Australian community.

The Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 will enhance the powers of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) to help combat serious crimes perpetrated online, particularly activity by criminals who seek to use encryption and anonymising technology to evade law enforcement.

Multiple layers of technologies that conceal the identities, IP addresses, jurisdictions, locations and activities of criminals are increasingly hampering investigations into serious crimes. This includes child sexual abuse, terrorism and the trafficking of firearms and illicit drugs.

The arrest of more than 220 criminals as part of Operation Ironside earlier this year was a testament to the dedication and hard work of our law enforcement agencies. But it also demonstrated the persistent and ever evolving threat of transnational, serious and organised crime. And their increasing tendency to seek out and use technology, often operated exclusively for the criminal market, to conceal their offending.

In the case of Operation Ironside, ingenuity and world-class capability gave our law enforcement an edge. This Bill is just one more step the Government is taking to ensure our agencies maintain that edge.

Overview of Bill

Specifically, the Bill provides the AFP and ACIC with three new powers to identify and disrupt serious crime online.

First, the Bill will allow agencies to disrupt criminal activity where they see it occurring online through the use of data disruption warrants. This will enable agencies to modify data belonging to individuals suspected of criminal activity in order to frustrate the commission of serious offences. For example, investigators who become aware of child abuse images being shared online, will be able to modify or delete that material to prevent its further spread. This will halt the further victimisation of children in the images while police work to bring their abusers to justice.

These powers will be accompanied by robust safeguards to ensure they are exercised with due care and that there is consideration of the impact on third parties, including the impact on the privacy of individuals. Oversight of the disruption activities will be conducted by the Commonwealth Ombudsman. This is consistent with the general oversight arrangements for the activities of these agencies under similar computer access powers.

Second, the Bill provides a new power to collect intelligence through access to online criminal networks – known as a network activity warrant. This power will allow investigators to identify offenders and the scope of their offending online, including on the dark web. This warrant will be available where the members' identities are unknown to authorities, allowing the suspects' online identifying information to be collected as the first step in an investigation.

As this is an intelligence collection power, any information collected using these warrants will not be admissible in criminal proceedings. The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) will ensure rigorous oversight over this power. This is appropriate given this power is limited to the collection of intelligence rather than evidence.

Finally, the Bill will allow agencies to take control of a person's online account for the purpose of gathering evidence to expose online criminality – known as an account takeover warrant. This power will allow law enforcement to uncover identities of individuals operating online and identify potential victims. `

Through the new account takeover warrant, the AFP and ACIC will be authorised to take control of a person's online account to gather evidence leading to prosecutions of a serious offence. For example, current powers enable an AFP officer to obtain a password to a forum account that can be accessed through a device if the device is suspected to be used to distribute child abuse material. This does not allow taking full control of their online account. The account takeover power will enable an officer to obtain exclusive control of the online account and prevent the person's continued access to a forum and the further dissemination of child abuse material.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman will provide oversight of the AFP and ACIC's use of the account takeover powers.

Agencies will also be required to provide statistics relating to the use of data disruption warrants, network activity warrants and account takeover warrants in annual reports to the Minister, which are required to be tabled in Parliament.

Government amendments

The Bill has been extensively reviewed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (the Committee), with a report tabled by the Committee on 5 August 2021. The Government thanks the Committee for its review of these important reforms. The Government moved 60 amendments to the Bill to strengthen and clarify the scope of the Bill's operation, in line with the Committee's recommendations, which were agreed to by the House of Representatives. The amendments:

Conclusion

These key new powers are critical in enabling law enforcement to tackle the fundamental shift in how serious criminality is occurring online. This Bill demonstrates the Government's commitment to equipping the AFP and ACIC with modern powers that ensure serious criminality targeting Australians is identified and disrupted as resolutely in the online space as it is in the physical world.

I commend the Bill to the Chamber.