Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I'll try to direct this discussion back to the bills. I want to thank all senators who contributed to the debate on these bills. The government also thanks the opposition for their bipartisanship and constructive engagement in progressing these bills through the parliament. The Defence Amendment (Safeguarding Australia's Military Secrets) Bill 2024 and the Defence Trade Controls Amendment Bill 2024 represent critical reforms to Australia's protective security framework. In the complex and challenging strategic environment that we face today, preventing our defence technologies, capabilities and information from falling into the hands of our adversaries is paramount.

At the same time, these reforms represent a significant opportunity to unlock the benefits of AUKUS, helping establish a seamless industrial base between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. These reforms will achieve this by establishing a new licence-free environment among AUKUS partners through a national exemption for the United States and the United Kingdom from Australia's export control licensing requirements under the Defence Trade Controls Act. This will revolutionise collaboration and defence trade, unlocking investment and growth opportunities for Australian industry, research and science.

The government has considered carefully the need for an effective legal framework for Australia's export control regime, including the ability to prosecute offences reasonably and successfully. For each offence in the Defence Trade Controls Act the prosecution must prove that the supply or service is a constitutional defence and strategic goods list supply or constitutional DSGL service. This requirement does not go to the substance of the offence, but rather ensures that there is a legal basis for regulating a supply or service.

The bill applies absolute liability to the single element of the offences in the bill. It does not apply absolute liability to the whole offence. Absolute liability only requires the prosecution to prove that the element of the offence was physically engaged in. It is appropriate to apply absolute liability to this element of each of the offences in the bill as it concerns a mere matter of fact about the underlying supply or service being made. Absolute liability does not apply to any other elements of any of the offences in the bill. For other elements of the offences in the bill, the prosecution will still be required to prove both a physical and fault element beyond a reasonable doubt.

The safeguarding Australia's military secrets bill does not seek to limit any Australian's employment opportunities. It extends Australia's already robust legislation and policies further by enhancing the protections around our defence information and technology and that of our allies. It adopts a proactive approach by establishing an authorisation framework to regulate the performance of work in specified training to a foreign military, foreign government or foreign government entity.

The reforms in these bills strike the balance between protecting our national security while supporting our economic innovation and international research collaboration. We should understand how significant these reforms will be. It is expected to provide a net benefit to the economy of $614 million over 10 years.

We are grateful for the constructive way industry and the higher education sector have engaged with the government. We also appreciate their contributions to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade's inquiry into the bills. The government has made sensible amendments to address the feedback we received. As the chief executive of the Group of Eight, Vicki Thomson, wrote in the Australian Financial Review on 19 March 2024:

These reforms are not a "nice to have", they are a must-have.

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The proposed changes to the Defence Trade Controls Act will ensure Australia achieves the required comparability with that of the US. They will be a game changer for our university research sector.

These bills will ensure Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States can collaborate, innovate and trade at the speed and scale required to meet the challenging strategic circumstances, and they will build Australia's long-term national defence by supporting our AUKUS commitment. I commend the bills to the chamber.