David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the leave of the Senate, I would be pleased to make some comments on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's advisory report. As I mentioned, I'm pleased to speak to the committee's advisory report on the Office of National Intelligence Bill 2018 and the Office of National Intelligence (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2018, as presented to the Senate by Senator Williams.

These bills form a component of the government's response to the 2017 Independent intelligence review. The review's major recommendation was that the Office of National Intelligence, the ONI, be established in the Prime Minister's portfolio. The review has noted that ONI would be headed by a director-general who would be the Prime Minister's principal adviser on matters relating to the national intelligence community. The director-general would not be empowered to direct the specific activities of agencies but should be able to direct the coordination of the national intelligence community to ensure there are appropriately integrated strategies across the suite of agency capabilities.

The bills continue the former Office of National Assessments, ONA, as ONI, with a revised mandate to lead the national intelligence community. The ONI Bill further extends ONI's assessment and evaluation functions from that of the ONA. It provides ONI with a specific open-source collection function and positions the director-general as the head of the national intelligence community. The director-general's responsibilities include keeping the Prime Minister informed on matters relating to the national intelligence community. The ONI (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill repeals the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 and amends 18 other acts to reflect the proposed operation of ONI.

During its review of the bills, the committee examined how the proposed legislation reflected the recommendations from the 2017 Independent intelligence review. The committee also examined whether ONI was given adequate powers and functions to lead a better coordinated and more integrated intelligence community and examined whether the bills impacted on the existing role and statutory functions of the other Australian intelligence agencies. The committee received three submissions on the bills and held a public hearing on 16 August 2018 in Canberra.

The committee subsequently made six recommendations in relation to the bills. The first recommendation was that the comprehensive review into the legal framework of the national intelligence community, currently underway, examine the consistency of provisions across national intelligence community legislation which enable these agencies to operate with foreign authorities. The second recommendation was that the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence be unable to delegate his or her powers to authorise ONI to engage with foreign partners. The third recommendation removes a secrecy offence from the bill consistent with the committee's recent advisory report on the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017. The fourth recommendation was that ONI's privacy rules be made public except to the extent that those rules contain classified information. The fifth recommendation was that the Prime Minister consult with the Privacy Commissioner when making privacy rules for ONI. The sixth and final recommendation is that, subject to implementation of these recommendations, the bill be passed. I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.