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

Labor supports the Investigation and Prosecution Measures Bill 2017. This bill has two purposes. First, schedule 1 of the bill amends the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 and the Surveillance Devices Act 2004. These amendments are consequential on the restructuring of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of the state of New South Wales, which took place in 2016. Second, schedule 2 of the bill introduces amendments into the Director of Public Prosecutions Act to extend the functions, powers and duties of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to cover the laws of Norfolk Island. These reforms are uncontroversial and welcome.

In 2016 the New South Wales parliament passed the Independent Commission Against Corruption Amendment Act 2016. The passage of this act allowed for the restructure of the New South Wales ICAC, including by introducing a new structure, which comprises a chief commissioner and two part-time commissioners, along with additional assistant commissioners if required. All these arrangements are now in force, with the necessary amendments to the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 having been made. It's a self-evident consequence of these new arrangements that there's a need for amendments to the relevant Commonwealth statutes, which allow for continued cooperation between jurisdictions. This bill, in relation to the Telecommunications Interception and Access Act 1979 and the Surveillance Devices Act 2004, maintains the correct references to the New South Wales ICAC. It's also, I can say in passing, a demonstration of this parliament maintaining direct control over which agencies are to be given access without warrants to telecommunications data rather than leaving this matter to regulations made by the Attorney-General.

As Deputy Speaker Hastie would know from his role as the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, this was quite a vexed question when the data retention or access to retained data legislation was passed through the parliament. At the time that the legislation was passed, the number of agencies who had access to telecommunications data had reached a number somewhat over 80, and one of the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, if the data-retention scheme was to go forward, was that not only should that number be very substantially reduced but that, in future, it was a matter to be dealt with by this parliament directly, rather than leaving it to be dealt with by the Attorney-General.

The government accepted that recommendation of the PJCIS, and that came into force. What we see here in this bill, in relation to the restructuring of the New South Wales ICAC, is a manifestation of exactly that recommendation and the form that the legislation now takes so that, in every case, even if it's simply a restructure of a particular state agency that is given access to data, it will nevertheless come to the parliament rather than being dealt with by regulation by the Attorney-General.

Just on the restructured New South Wales ICAC, it's well-known in this House that the now restructured New South Wales ICAC was established in 1988. Its principal function is to investigate alleged corruption at state and local government levels in New South Wales. It covers New South Wales parliamentarians, local councillors, public servants, staff of universities and employees of state-owned corporations. It's served the people of New South Wales well and, in doing so, has contributed to the maintenance of trust in public institutions in the state.

Everyone in this place, I would hope, would agree that Australians have a right to feel confident that their government, at the national level, is open, transparent and free from corruption. Corruption has no place in Australia at any level of government, and governments should do everything they can to prevent it. However, in recent years, following a number of scandals under the Abbott and Turnbull governments, there's been a diminution of public faith in our Commonwealth institutions. That's why a Shorten Labor government will establish a national integrity commission, a new federal anti-corruption body tasked with investigating allegations of serious corruption, stamping it out wherever it's found, and educating the community about public-sector integrity. Labor's national integrity commission will help to ensure the highest levels of public administration, and help to restore, I would hope, Australians' trust in politics and the public sector.

Every state and territory has now established, or is in the process of establishing, anti-corruption bodies. The New South Wales ICAC—which is the object of this legislation—has been operating now for three decades. I think all Australians agree that it's time we held our Commonwealth public officials to the same standard that state public officials and territory public officials are being held, and that we created a single broad based body to prevent corruption.

The Leader of the Opposition has already said that Labor is ready to join with the government, and any other interested party, to begin work on a national integrity commission straightaway. I reiterate that invitation now. I believe that good government means open and transparent government, and good government means that we govern with the trust of the people that we serve. I commend the bill to the House.

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