Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all Australians. Australia has a robust national security and counterterrorism framework to ensure that our agencies have the powers they need to prevent terrorist attacks and deal with those who seek to commit them.

These laws need regular assessment to ensure that powers remain appropriate to the current threat environment, and that the objective of protecting national security is balanced against upholding the rights and freedoms of individuals.

The Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, known as the monitor, independently reviews the operation, effectiveness and implications of Australia's national security and counterterrorism laws, ensuring they contain appropriate protections for individual rights, remain proportionate to terrorism or national security threats, and remain necessary.

This bill would amend the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Act 2010 (INSLM Act) to clarify reporting arrangements for the monitor and provide a framework for the engagement of staff to assist the monitor in its work.

The amendments will assist the monitor in the performance of their role and, as a result, will help ensure Australia's counterterrorism and national security legislation remains proportionate and consistent with Australia's international obligations.

Amendments to clarify the Monitor's reporting arrangements

A key function of the monitor is to review Commonwealth counterterrorism and national security legislation and to report on the outcomes of those reviews.

The monitor can conduct own motion reviews on specific matters, and must conduct specific statutory reviews and reviews on matters referred by the Attorney-General or the Prime Minister. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) may also refer matters to the monitor, and the monitor may decide to take up the referral as an own motion review.

This bill would amend the INSLM Act to enable the monitor to report on own motion inquiries in standalone reports, separate to the monitor's annual reports, and to clarify the review and reporting arrangements for statutory reviews, own motion reviews and reviews conducted under a PJCIS referral.

This responds to recommendations made by the former monitor, Dr James Renwick CSC SC, and by the 2019 Comprehensive Review of the Legal Framework of the National Intelligence Community.

Amendments to address the engagement of staff to assist the Monitor

The bill would also provide a framework for the engagement of staff to assist the monitor. The monitor is a part-time statutory appointment. When the position was established in 2010, it was envisaged that the monitor would only undertake one review a year. Since then, the role has evolved, including through an increased number of statutory reviews of various legislation.

The monitor is now supported by three permanent employees of the Attorney-General's Department, whose services have been made available to assist the monitor, as well as legal representatives who are engaged in relation to specific reviews.

This bill would formalise those arrangements by amending the INSLM Act to include provisions for the engagement of staff (including contractors) to assist the monitor with the performance of functions and exercise of their powers.

The bill also provides current and former staff of the monitor with appropriate protections for any acts or omissions done by that person in good faith during the course of assisting the monitor in the performance of its functions or exercise of its powers.

These protections are similar to arrangements for the staff of other statutory oversight officeholders, such as the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Integrity Commissioner and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Conclusion

The government acknowledges and appreciates the monitor's ongoing role in reviewing the operation, effectiveness and implications of Australia's national security and counterterrorism legislation. If passed, this bill will assist the monitor in the performance of their role, helping to ensure Australia's counterterrorism and national security legislation remains necessary, appropriate and proportionate.

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