Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The recent review of the administration and expenditure of our security agencies and our intelligence agencies, tabled just last Monday by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, found that when it comes to visa security and to security checking the joint parliamentary committee was:

… satisfied that the current regime for visa security assessments is the correct one.

The fact is that this government has increased the resources that ASIO has to meet an increasing caseload. ASIO is managing those resources in an effective and efficient manner and it does this by determining, through a triage process, which cases should undergo a full security assessment. I want to quote someone else. This is what the Director-General of ASIO said at the recent Senate estimates hearing:

In the circumstances—

this is the Director-General of ASIO—

I would submit that the triaging process is the most effective and efficient way of enabling the greatest resources to be applied to the greatest potential risk.

He went on to say:

With a properly managed risk management system you can reduce the risk very considerably by focusing on real problems.

If the opposition is saying that it knows how to manage national security assessments better than ASIO, then it should say how it would do it differently and what it would cost. It is very clear I cannot and will not comment on individual cases, but I would say it is important to note that the individual in question has been in detention at all times since he arrived in Australia. (Time expired)

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