David Jull (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I have pleasure in presenting the committee’s report entitled Review of administration and expenditure No. 5: Australian intelligence organisations.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

The fifth review of administration and expenditure is the first full review conducted under section 29 of the Intelligence Services Act 2005 of the administration and expenditure of the six intelligence agencies since the act was amended in December 2005 to include ONA, DIO and DIGO within the committee’s oversight. The committee has a statutory obligation to review the financial statements for all AIC agencies. This review broadly looked at all aspects of the administration and expenditure of the six intelligence and security agencies.

All the intelligence and security agencies have over the last several years undergone structural reorganisation to varying degrees to enable them to absorb recent growth in the most effective way. During the current review, the committee found that for some agencies this has entailed a significant reorganisation to build up various sections to better serve the whole organisation and to deal with emerging needs, while other agencies have absorbed increased staff numbers into the existing structure with little structural change. All the agencies satisfied the committee that they are mindful of the pitfalls of dealing with substantially increased budgets and each is taking measures to manage budget growth appropriately.

Agencies are working hard to meet recruitment targets in a highly competitive labour market, and agencies face the additional challenge of recruiting staff who are able to meet the most stringent Commonwealth security standards. Agency heads told the committee that it is foremost in their minds that rapid growth could negatively impact the agency’s work if not handled very carefully. All agencies demonstrated to the committee that they are expending a considerable amount of their resources to attract and then retain the right staff for their agency.

Agencies continue to make training and development of staff a high priority and, in most agencies, training budgets have steadily increased—in some cases very substantially. Agencies outlined to the committee a range of improvements that they have made to their training programs over the past 12 months. They noted that, with so many new staff, average experience levels will be lower in the short term. To counter the effects of this experience gap, agencies are putting extra emphasis on training programs for new starters in the early stages of their employment. Additionally, several agencies noted that they are directing extra effort into leadership training. The committee is satisfied that agencies are making a concerted effort to match their increasing staff numbers with appropriate training programs to ensure that the agency has a highly skilled workforce which is capable of meeting the high standards that each requires.

During the previous administration and expenditure reviews, agencies explained in detail their strategies for augmenting and retaining their linguistic capacities. Updates during the current hearings demonstrated to the committee that those agencies which rely on linguistic capacity continue to explore all avenues for attracting, recruiting, training and retaining highly skilled linguists.

The committee found that recent legislative changes to the Intelligence Services Act and other acts which have relevance to certain areas of agency operations have impacted on agencies to varying degrees, but no agency felt negatively impacted by recent legislative changes. On the contrary, agencies generally felt that legislative changes have improved their ability to operate. In general, agencies noted that they are developing, or have developed, processes to ensure compliance with relevant legislative changes, and the committee is satisfied that each is managing the impacts of recent legislative changes adequately and appropriately.

Due to the high standard of submissions and the evidence given at the hearings, the committee has increased its knowledge of the finance and expenditure activities of the intelligence and security agencies. The committee found nothing in the evidence provided to raise concerns about the existing financial management within any of the agencies. Agencies discussed the challenges they have faced and continue to face—handling considerably increased budgets in conjunction with, in most cases, rapidly increasing staff numbers. In conclusion, and on behalf of the committee, I would like to thank the head of each agency and their staff for their ongoing cooperative approach to the work of the committee. Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the report to the House.

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