Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Strengthening Oversight of the National Intelligence Community Bill 2025. The coalition will support this bill. Australia currently faces real, emerging and serious threats to its national security. That fact was borne out in the recent despicable attacks on places linked to our Jewish community—the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and the kosher Lewis' Continental Kitchen in Sydney.

The director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, recently attributed at least two of those attacks to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. This parliament has separately taken action, long called for by the coalition, to address state sponsored terrorism targeted at Australia by the ability to list foreign state entities as state sponsors of terrorism, with associated criminal offences and penalties. The coalition understands and believes that, to meet these real and ongoing national security threats, intelligence and security agencies must have the powers and resources necessary to protect Australian citizens and our national interests.

By way of overview, the national intelligence community comprises 10 agencies: the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the ACIC; the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation, the AGO; the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, ASIS; the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO; the Australian Signals Directorate, ASD; the Defence Intelligence Organisation, DIO; the Office of National Intelligence, ONI; the Australian Federal Police; the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, AUSTRAC; and the Department of Home Affairs.

Given the importance of our democracy, the parliament must ensure that we deliver these agencies with the right tools to protect Australia's essential security and national interests while also safeguarding our essential rights and freedoms. An important way in which to do so is to ensure that we have strong and effective oversight of our national intelligence community. We know that public trust and confidence in our security and intelligence agencies can only continue to be assured through rigorous, effective oversight and, to the greatest extent possible, public accountability.

I turn now to an overview of the bill before the House. The Strengthening Oversight of the National Intelligence Community Bill 2025, commonly referred to in the intelligence community as the SONIC, amends the Intelligence Services Act, the IS Act, and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986, the IGIS Act. It does so to ensure comprehensive oversight of all 10 agencies in Australia's national intelligence community. This improved oversight will occur through the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, the PJCIS, on which I've had the great honour of serving, and via the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, the IGIS.

The bill expands the jurisdictions of the IGIS and the PJCIS to include oversight of four additional agencies under their remit: the ACIC, and only the intelligence functions of the Australian Federal Police, AUSTRAC and Home Affairs. This is an appropriate recognition of the significant national security powers exercised by these agencies, as well as their regular, integral role in joint intelligence operations. The coalition considers this to be a prudent measure that would bring the oversight of these agencies in line with their national intelligence community counterparts.

The limited intelligence functions of the Department of Home Affairs pertain to the collection and analysis of intelligence for the purposes of immigration operations—namely, those of the Australian Border Force—some domestic cyber operations, and activities concerning countering foreign interference. Home Affairs also exercises coordination roles concerning counterterrorism operations, counter-foreign-interference operations and cyber incident responses that require access to and sharing of classified intelligence. The department's intelligence-collection functions and its use of intelligence for operational purposes has placed it within the NIC, the national intelligence community. It is also the basis for its work being subject to oversight by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

The bill also strengthens the relationship between the PJCIS, the IGIS and the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, the INSLM, and provides the PJCIS with a power to request the IGIS to conduct an inquiry, complementing the committee's existing ability to request that the INSLM undertake a review. The coalition welcomes the granting of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor with the power to initiate reviews into the full suite of contemporary counterterrorism or national security legislation at the Commonwealth level rather than the current defined list of legislation. The bill, importantly, provides an own-motion power to the PJCIS to review certain legislation and a requirement that the IGIS and the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence provide briefings to the committee. These are critical and measured reforms to ensure that the parliament, through the PJCIS, has oversight of intelligence and security matters across all the national intelligence community.

Turning to other specific aspects of the bill, schedule 1 would also require the inspector-general and the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence to provide annual briefings to the PJCIS. It will also make a number of technical amendments to the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to modernise and clarify the provisions to ensure the PJCIS's enabling legislation is adapted to contemporary circumstances. It will remove the ACIC from the oversight jurisdiction of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, the PJCLE, noting that the ACIC will be oversighted by the PJCIS in its entirety—I apologise for the acronyms in this speech! Schedule 1 will also make consequential amendments to ensure that information protected by secrecy offences under relevant legislation can be disclosed to IGIS officials performing duties or functions or exercising powers as IGIS officials.

These amendments would allow for the transfer of complaints regarding AUSTRAC and Home Affairs between the IGIS and other integrity bodies to facilitate effective consideration of those complaints by the appropriate body. It will also make consequential amendments to address overlap in jurisdiction between the IGIS and other relevant oversight bodies.

Schedule 2 of the bill would amend the review and access of ACIC criminal intelligence assessment records under the archives law. Schedule 3 of the bill would amend the Criminal Code to introduce an exemption from civil and criminal liability for Defence officials and others for certain computer related conduct connected to an effect outside Australia.

Schedule 4 of the bill would amend the meaning of 'counterterrorism and national security legislation' for the purposes of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Act 2010, the INSLM Act, to ensure the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor is able to review any Commonwealth legislation relating to counterterrorism or national security. Schedule 4 will also make a number of minor amendments to streamline and modernise provisions in the INSLM Act to ensure the INSLM's enabling legislation is adapted to contemporary circumstances. Finally, schedule 5 of the bill contains application and transitional provisions.

Turning now to the issue of ongoing oversight: as with the ever-present requirement to consider how best to protect and safeguard our national security, an ongoing obligation for this parliament and its successors will be to ensure that Australia's intelligence oversight legislation remains fit for purpose for how technology is likely to disrupt intelligence practices. In particular, the use of artificial intelligence will expand the capability and lower the barrier to entry for those departments and agencies, including those outside the NIC, wishing to undertake so-called open source intelligence collection—and that is information that is freely accessible.

Open source intelligence, OSIT, activities are increasingly being used by a wide range of government departments and agencies. The information that can be collected, as well as the analysis that can be performed on such information, can rival covert collection methods in some instances. The question of proper oversight of OSIT practices should be an ongoing consideration for the PJCIS, including whether it is the appropriate remit of the IGIS or whether other bodies should fulfil this function. Lawmakers should regularly consider if new intelligence oversight legislation is suitably future proofed in the face of how emerging technologies may interact with intelligence practices.

On the topic of proper oversight by the PJCIS, I am obliged to observe that we do have significant concerns about how the Albanese Labor government has handled consideration of a number of national security bills, with disregard for the proper work of the PJCIS. This is regrettably emblematic of this government's approach to national security matters in this parliament. The important oversight of intelligence and security matters performed by the PJCIS has been restricted and impeded by this government, including through truncated and rushed consideration of legislation. That must stop. The imposition of unrealistic timeframes places an unnecessary burden on stakeholders, secretariat staff and members of the PJCIS and, ultimately, more importantly, potentially leads to unintended consequences and/or poorer legislative outcomes for our national security. The coalition will continue to call out this government's perfunctory approach to parliament's vital oversight role and to national security matters.

I also want to acknowledge the work of the PJCIS in its inquiry into this bill. The committee's report recommended the bill be passed and set out 11 further recommendations to strengthen oversight of the national intelligence community. The government has advised that it will adopt several of these recommendations and move amendments accordingly. I have been provided just this morning with a number of those amendments, which I am still trying to get my head around. When those amendments are moved in this House, I will be speaking to them more closely.

The coalition will be constructive where we can, especially on important reforms to improve our national intelligence architecture. We recognise that this bill is an important strengthening of the oversight of our national intelligence community but we will continue to hold the government to account in relation to how it develops and implements these measures.

The Australian people deserve transparency wherever possible in relation to intelligence legislation. They deserve accountability and confidence that their parliament is doing its job. While we will support this bill as outlined, the coalition has misgivings about how the Albanese government approaches the parliament's oversight of national security matters, including in relation to this bill. We will continue to insist that the government allows proper legislative and parliamentary processes to run their course before seeking to ram legislation through this parliament so as to ensure we deliver the best national security legislation to protect the Australian people, their institutions and assets.

As is my want to do in this place when I am talking all things national security, I do acknowledge the efforts of all of those men and women in our national intelligence community. I am joined at the table by my good friend the shadow veterans' affairs minister and also the veterans' affairs minister. In this place we rightly acknowledge our men and women who serve this country in uniform, but not often enough do we acknowledge the efforts of our men and women of our national intelligence community, who often are placed in harm's way and often 27 million Australians will never know about it. These are men and women who serve this country with great pride, loyalty and passion across this country and across the world in what can be very difficult and dangerous circumstances. I want to use this opportunity at the dispatch box to encourage and ask all of the directors-general and secretaries of our national intelligence agencies to pass on the thanks of a grateful nation to those men and women who serve this country in our national intelligence community.

Australians expect nothing less of this place than to ensure that we uphold appropriate scrutiny of our national intelligence community and the intelligence legislation that comes before this House. I commend this bill to the House.

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