Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

With the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2007, we are trying to achieve a single comprehensive legislative regime dealing with telecommunications information and enforcement processes. The bill transfers key security and law enforcement provisions from the Telecommunications Act to the interception act. The transferred provisions relate to access to telecommunications data—the provision of regulating telecommunications industry interception obligations. In doing so, the bill creates a clearer regime for accessing telecommunications data for national security and for law enforcement purposes. I am sure we do not have to stress that point.

Following on from the original bombings in London and the more recent wave of largely foiled bombings and the event in Scotland, where an attempt was made to breach airport security, British enforcement agencies were able to track down a number of the people responsible by way of their phone calls. These phone calls gave the police and security people the opportunity to nail people who were known associates of the bombers and would-be bombers. We need to have a regime in Australia that allows us to act decisively and promptly when we have a similar circumstance. I know that the Dr Haneef matter is somewhat contested but, nevertheless, the fact that his SIM card was made available to someone else was able to be detected. I suppose it shows, if nothing else, that our security enforcement people are able to link up certain people and at least test whether they are part of a network that could cause mayhem in our country or in a country friendly to ours, such as the United Kingdom.

As I said before, this bill represents the second stage of the government’s legislative implementation of recommendations from the Report of the review of the regulation of access to communications under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. The review was conducted by Tony Blunn AO and is known as the Blunn report. It talks about comprehensive and overriding legislation dealing with access to telecommunications data for security and law enforcement purposes. It talks about the basic elements of the telecommunications interception act that relate to privacy and access to real-time communications and recommends that that should be incorporated into and form the basis of such legislation, which should also incorporate relevant parts of the Telecommunications Act.

The bill gives effect to these recommendations. As I have said, we have all seen enough examples in recent times in our own country and overseas to, if nothing else, illustrate the importance of having the various instrumentalities of government and security able to do this. On that basis, I commend the legislation to the Main Committee.

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