Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank my colleagues for their contribution to this really important debate. We have come to government at a really distinctive time for Australia's national security. Our agencies are in agreement that, for the first time in many decades, espionage and foreign interference are the principal national security concerns that we face.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill that is before the parliament is one of a wide range of measures that the Australian government is pursuing to make sure that we're responding appropriately to that changing circumstances of our national security. This bill contains a range of amendments that will lift and harden Australia's level of security clearance in response to these unprecedented threats. It will drive shared initiatives and investments to improve interoperability and burden sharing as the Australian government delivers critical national security capabilities.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has reviewed this bill. I acknowledge the chair of the committee, the member for Wills, who is here with us in the chamber. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is, without question, one of the most important institutional features of the security conversation in our parliament. They work incredibly hard reviewing bills and policies of the Australian government to ensure that they are appropriately matched to the national security challenges we face. They've done really good work on this bill and provided an important suggestion for improvement, which we've adopted in the explanatory memorandum, which I'll come to in a moment.

The committee made two recommendations when it reviewed the draft bill. The first was that we pass the bill; that it was important for Australia's national security. The second was that we update the explanatory memorandum to clarify that ASIO will not engage human sources or agents to undertake security vetting. The government has implemented this recommendation by updating the explanatory memorandum. Accordingly, I present the replacement explanatory memorandum to the House.

In response to the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills report on the bill, the government has updated the explanatory memorandum also to clarify the exception to merits review for non-Australians or non-residents engaged for employment and duties outside Australia. This exception is necessary, reasonable and proportionate given the heightened risk that persons engaged in these circumstances may pose in relation to espionage and foreign interference, including that these persons may be exploited by foreign powers and their proxies.

The Prime Minister has said that Australia faces the most challenging geostrategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War. That's a very significant and accurate statement. The Director-General of Security has said that Australia's security environment is 'complex, challenging and changing' and that our goal as a country is to out-think and out-manoeuvre those who seek to harm our national interest. Part of that is expanding our capabilities and sharpening responses. That is exactly what this bill does. The choice that the Australian government makes about how it manages the geostrategic circumstances we face really matter, about how we engage with the global environment but also about what we do here in our own country to protect our national interest. The information that we have is valuable, and the protection of that information is becoming more important by the day.

One of the really important tenets of putting this bill together is that we fiercely believe that it is a privilege, not a right, to hold the highest level of Australian government security clearances. These clearances are not titles or rewards; they come with serious ongoing responsibilities, and we expect clearance holders to comply when they apply for those and to continue to comply with them. The reforms before the parliament will ensure that Australia's security clearance framework is uplifted and hardened in response to the threats we face. It includes providing for the ongoing monitoring of those highest levels of security clearances, rather than a 'set and forget', or what we might call a 'vet and forget', approach. Centralising Australia's highest-level security clearance vetting in ASIO leverages ASIO's specific security intelligence functions, holdings and capabilities, and it has regard to the most current and accurate information about the security threats confronting Australia. The reforms enabled by the bill will reduce the risk of compromise of trusted insiders, maximise utility derived from shared services to create efficiencies, improve the mobility and agility of our highest-cleared workforce and ensure the ongoing confidence of our most trusted allies.

In closing, I feel very privileged in the work I do as Minister for Home Affairs to work very directly with ASIO and the incredible people who serve their country through working for that organisation. Their job is very unique. It is stressful, it is difficult and, perhaps most relevantly, it is secret. It is a very important thing these people do for their country. Unlike we parliamentarians who sit here and can talk openly about the work we do and can speak with our constituents and our families, the people who work for our security agencies are in an entirely different scenario where they're not allowed to discuss the important work they do. It is very special because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the people who work for these organisations do it with one motivation in mind, and that is that they care passionately about their country. They are creative, intelligent, amazing people who work so hard to make sure that all the citizens that we represent in this chamber can live safely and go about their everyday lives. I want to put on record the government's gratitude for that work and the parliament's gratitude for that work. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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