Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I 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—

Australia's security environment is complex, challenging and changing. As threats to Australia evolve, so must Australia's response. We must out-think and out-manoeuvre those who seek to harm national interest; we must expand our capabilities; and we must sharpen our response.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill 2023 (the Bill) contains a suite of amendments to:

The reforms will implement a consistent approach across the Australian Government to issuing, maintaining and revoking Australia's highest level of security clearances. This will reduce the risk of compromise of trusted insiders, maximise the utility derived from shared services to create efficiencies, improve the mobility and agility of our highest cleared workforce and ensure the ongoing confidence of our most trusted allies.

We have established a new national capability, comprising a national TOP SECRET vetting authority in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and a Quality Assurance Office in the Office of National Intelligence. This capability is underpinned by a new, classified standard for Australia's highest level of security clearance, known as the TOP SECRET-Privileged Access security clearance. This standard establishes stronger mandatory minimum security clearance requirements reflecting contemporary psychological and insider threat research.

The national vetting authority in ASIO will be centrally responsible for issuing TOP SECRET- Privileged Access clearances, which over time will replace Positive Vetting clearances. The existing operations of those agencies currently responsible for Positive Vetting clearances will similarly be transitioned to ASIO in phases.

Centralising Australia's highest-level security clearance vetting in ASIO leverages ASIO's security intelligence functions, holdings and capabilities to allow a holistic assessment of a person's suitability to hold such a clearance, having regard to the most current and accurate information about the security threats confronting Australia. Drawing on their expertise, ASIO's analysts assess all available information, and use structured analytical techniques to test, retest and contest their assumptions.

The Quality Assurance Office in ONI will independently assure the quality, consistency and transferability of these security clearances, and drive the uplift of an insider threat capability for sponsors across the Commonwealth.

Responsibility for the issue and management of lower-level security clearances, from Baseline to Negative Vetting Level 2, will remain unchanged. This means that the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency, known as AGSVA, will remain responsible for most of those clearances.

The threat environment

ASIO assesses that espionage and foreign interference is Australia's principal security concern.

In his 2023 Annual Threat Assessment, the Director-General of Security noted that more Australians are being targeted for espionage and foreign interference than at any time in Australia's history.

Foreign intelligence services are aggressively seeking secrets at all levels of Australian society—to name a few, through public service agencies, universities, defence industry and even through our journalists. They are targeting our security-clearance holders—those with access to Australia's most privileged information, capabilities and secrets.

Whether it is information from Australia's intelligence community or our Five-Eyes partners, about Australia's ground-breaking nuclear powered submarines program with US and UK partners, or other advanced defence and intelligence capabilities, Australia's sovereignty demands that these be protected. We must ensure that those Australians who have access to these privileged insights are suitable to do so because we take security seriously. The reforms I bring forward today therefore put this Government at the forefront of efforts to protect our nation from espionage and foreign interference.

Overview of the Bill

The Bill will enable the operation of the national vetting capability in five key ways.

First, the Bill will provide ASIO with a new function, and introduce a new Part IVA in the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (the ASIO Act). ASIO's new function enables it to make security clearance decisions for ASIO and non-ASIO personnel alike, perform security vetting, and furnish advice to other authorised vetting agencies for lower-level security clearances issued by those agencies.

Second, the reforms will enable persistent and more frequent, rather than point-in-time, validation and management of an individual's suitability to hold a security clearance. This in turn will enable:

This reflects that security is a shared responsibility.

Consent forms the foundation of this new function. Only people who have voluntarily applied for a security clearance and consented to the collection, use and sharing of their information will be affected.

Third, the reforms will ensure that ASIO's use of these new powers is subject to stringent safeguards.

The Bill will enshrine a robust framework allowing for merits review of ASIO's security clearance decisions and security clearance suitability assessments. With limited exceptions, those affected by ASIO's security clearance decisions will be eligible for internal review under a new statutory framework, as well as external merits review in either the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) for existing security clearance holders and Commonwealth employees, or by an independent reviewer appointed by the Attorney-General for all other applicants.

Fourth, the Bill will amend the Office of National Intelligence Act 2018 (ONI Act) to provide ONI with a new function to drive the uplift of insider threat capabilities across the Commonwealth, and independently assure the quality and consistency of TOP SECRET-Privileged Access security clearances.

ASIO will continue to be overseen by the IGIS, who has powers akin to a Royal Commission. The IGIS will continue to review ASIO's activities to ensure the Organisation acts legally and with propriety, complies with ministerial guidelines and directives and respects human rights.

Finally, to implement these reforms, the Bill will also amend the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 and Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986.

Conclusion

We must remember it is a privilege, not a right, to hold the highest level of Australian Government security clearance. These clearances are not titles or rewards—they come with serious on-going responsibilities with which we expect our clearance holders to comply.

These reforms will ensure that Australia's security clearance framework is uplifted and hardened, and remains at the forefront of international best practice, in the face of a complex, challenging and changing security environment.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.