Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, was established in 1949 to fill a really important need in Australia at that time. The end of World War II had happened only four years earlier, and there was a lot going on in our nation at that time—the rise of communism, a fear of communism. There was so much subversive activity going on to get information about Australia, about its organisations, about its defence capability and the like. The establishment of ASIO was a critical part of making sure that we kept in front of state organisations in other countries that would seek to do us harm.

Never has there been a more important time for the role of ASIO to be at its peak, to be at its utmost level of capability than right now. We are facing, in this nation and throughout the world, a time where people who seek to do us harm are everywhere and endeavouring to infiltrate organisations, even down to local councils and businesses. This is a critical time that we invest, both in resources and people, what is needed to ensure that our intelligence agencies, especially ASIO, are the best that they can be. We should thank them, because we have some incredible people, some amazing and talented people, in ASIO and in our intelligence organisations here and abroad working for us and on our behalf, working to ensure that the safety and security of Australians is paramount.

The world changed with 9/11, with the hijacking of aeroplanes in the United States. Ten Australians were killed in the World Trade Center. I've been to Ground Zero; it's a very sobering and sombre place. I know that the work that ASIO and other organisations have done, particularly since that point in time, has been truly remarkable. Yes, we've had incidents. Yes, we've had some people who would who want the destruction of our society because they hate us. They have been curtailed in their attempts to wreak havoc amongst our peace-loving and law-abiding citizens. Many of those attempts, of course, we never know about. I've been 2IC of the security committee, the peak body here in Australia—not that I'll go into what is said and put across that table, of course—and rest assured it's very comforting to know that our people, ASIO and others, are the best that they can be and the work that they do is always ongoing. It's 24/7. It's 365 days a year. We thank them, and anything that we can do to help them has to be encouraged and has to be followed through.

I know that sometimes there are nefarious and evil-minded people whose activities slip through the cracks—not always but sometimes. We see incidents such as 14 December on Bondi Beach, where out of the blue these acts of terror occur and these people who perpetrate these acts and to and who help others to do just that have to be have to be stopped. It should never happen. They must be prevented from carrying out their terror in the future. And I thank everybody who has a part to play in that, because, indeed, we are very much a peace-loving nation and that is just something that goes against everything we stand for—the traditions and the norms on which our society is based. What we've seen in recent nights in Sydney has been simply unacceptable, and I have to say hate speech on our streets leads to hate events in our communities. It has to be stopped. I know that ASIO very much looks at these on a on an overall level and look at these on an overall basis, but it starts with us as a society following the laws of the land. When these protests go beyond the laws of the land, well, what we see result is what occurred, in particular, two nights ago in Sydney. It's unacceptable. For the Greens to do what they do as a political party—to encourage that sort of hatred in our society—is reprehensible, is abhorrent. I just cannot understand it.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025 amends the compulsory questioning powers in the ASIO Act. There are several points pertaining to this. It widens the scope of adult questioning warrants to include promotion of communal violence, sabotage, attacks on Australia's defence system and serious threats to Australia's territorial and border integrity. It amends the eligibility and termination provisions for proscribed authorities to ensure the independence and impartiality of persons appointed to the role. It introduces additional reporting requirements to ensure the Attorney-General is made aware of any relevant information regarding conduct under a compulsory questioning warrant. It requires that post-charge questioning occur only before a proscribed authority who is a retired judge and it makes the framework permanent by repealing the sunset provision. That is important too.

I know these things are under constant review, and that last point about repealing the sunset provision is noteworthy, but I think many of the aspects related to this bill are very much bipartisan in the sense that the major political parties get it. We just do. We understand it, and I appreciate that you do too, Deputy Speaker Haines. I know that integrity is one of the hallmarks of your political advocacy. But we do have elements within this building who do not always value the role that fundamental organisations such as ASIO play in this nation. They always want to try to completely tear down the very precepts and concepts of what administering the law means. By that I mean that they're always trying to change things.

That is why it's so important that the PJCIS and those sorts of organisations are run by the serious people within the parliament, and I think everybody in this room knows exactly who I mean by 'the serious people'. There are people in this parliament who, quite frankly, just don't like the organisation, the administration and the way our country is run. How they get elected is beyond me—but anyway; we move on.

Bill No. 2 also amends the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to permit the PJCIS to undertake a further review of the operation, effectiveness and implications of the framework three years after the commencement of this bill. The PJCIS plays an important role in national security and the way things are done through the parliament as far as defence and security are concerned.

I appreciate, too—and I do need to make mention of this—that concerns have been expressed by the coalition that the bill promotes some overreach. I know our then shadow home affairs minister, the member for Canning, who I have a lot of respect for regarding the role of national security and the importance of ensuring that national security is front and centre of everything we do, said on 30 July last year, in his speech in the second reading debate on the predecessor bill, 'It should be noted that there are people on both sides of the House who have concerns in relation to the extension of the powers at the heart of this kind of legislation.' He added that in the opposition we were alive to those concerns and that we should also explore them as part of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security inquiry into this bill, and that's important. He knows, as does the member for Cowper, the importance of the PJCIS, the importance of putting the ruler over every line of this and making sure we give it the full accountability it requires.

I acknowledge the role the member for Cowper has played in police work, because police work also goes to the nub of security. We should give thanks not only to organisations such as ASIO but also to the people who don a uniform and go to work every day. I note the member for Solomon opposite, and I acknowledge the part he played in the Australian Army. When people require assistance, the first people they run to are the police. And if things get so bad, the first people those under threat require to do the job for them is our Australian defence forces. Earlier I mentioned the Greens. If the Greens got in trouble, the first thing they'd do is pick up the phone and dial triple zero, and the first people who'd be responding would be the police, and they'd expect that. Yet they turn on the police every step of the way. I don't know why; they just seem to hate the way our country is run.

In the course of the months since the middle of last year, when the member for Canning, as shadow home affairs minister at the time, made the points about this bill I referred to earlier, these issues have, we believe, been satisfactorily examined and addressed, especially in the form of questioning of a number of witnesses, including ASIO, as part of that PJCIS inquiry. So, that's good. And I think the government needs to listen. I have this genuine concern that, given the Labor government's huge role in the House of Representatives, there is a bit of complacency setting in, that the government is not taking seriously the stakeholder engagement and the consultation it should on each piece of legislation. I fear that there is this inclination to just push things through the House of Representatives and then do the negotiations with those who hold the balance of power in the Senate to get it through. But that's not the way parliament's intended. That's not the way parliament should run.

There is a requirement to make sure that people who want to speak, wish to speak and should speak on bills are given the opportunity to do so, and there is an obligation and a duty upon the government of the day, irrespective of the majority it might have in the House of Representatives, to ensure that it does listen to the opposition. I appreciate that things have been interesting of late, but there are very serious people with very serious and qualified backgrounds in the opposition to assist the government, particularly on bills such as this involving national security and involving our national security organisations. Those experienced and qualified views should be listened to.

I know the PJCIS plays an important role in that, and I commend the government for at least making sure that the questions that we raised in the middle of last year were addressed. Thank you. That's to be commended, because national security is too important to place at any risk and ASIO deserves the very best help and everything that it requires. Those concerns included the view from some individuals and organisations that compulsory-questioning powers are excessive measures for an intelligence agency to possess and they ordinarily should not be broadened, but some also argue that the infrequent use of these powers in the past makes the case that there is no need for their extension.

We do support these bills. They are important. I'm glad that the PJCIS has run ruler over them, and I commend them to the House.

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