Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Secrecy provisions play a vital role in protecting the integrity and security of Commonwealth information. They safeguard sensitive national security and law enforcement material, protect personal and commercial information that is entrusted to government, and ensure that government can operate effectively in the public interest. These protections are fundamental to maintaining public trust in our institutions.

But secrecy must always be justified.

Transparency is central to the open and accountable government necessary to support public confidence and informed democratic debate. When secrecy provisions are too complex or too broad, they risk jeopardising legitimate information-sharing and undermining the very trust they are meant to protect.

The Secrecy Provisions Amendment (Repealing Offences) Bill will ensure that our secrecy laws protect what truly requires protection, while avoiding unnecessary barriers to public transparency.

Multiple reviews have found that Australia's secrecy framework has evolved into a complex patchwork of provisions—while some are essential, others are outdated and broader than necessary.

This bill makes comprehensive reforms to our secrecy framework in response to these findings.

Key among these is the repeal or removal of criminal liability from more than 300 secrecy provisions across the statute book, where it is no longer necessary. This represents a reduction of more than a third of Commonwealth secrecy provisions attracting criminal sanction.

Amendments in the bill will also implement other outstanding recommendations of the 2023 Review of Secrecy Provisions, conducted by my department, as well as the majority of recommendations agreed or agreed in principle by the government in its response to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor's review of secrecy offences at part 5.6 of the Criminal Code. These amendments will ensure that secrecy provisions are appropriately confined, proportionate and consistent with the rule of law.

The bill also builds upon the reforms to secrecy laws introduced in the Royal Commissions Legislation Amendment (Protections for Providing Information) Act 2026.

These are significant and meaningful improvements to Australia's secrecy laws.

The government has undertaken extensive work, since the secrecy reviews were released, to ensure secrecy provisions are justifiable and proportionate.

The 2023 Review of Secrecy Provisions identified 168 provisions that no longer required criminal liability. But we have invested further time to get these reforms right. This has required extensive consultation across government, with more than 13 departments and agencies providing their input. This has been a complex but a necessary task, as a number of these secrecy provisions are found across the statute book and in often unassuming places. I thank all the departments and agencies for their contribution to this critical work.

Because of this work, the bill will remove criminal liability from almost double the number of provisions identified by the 2023 review.

Removing criminal liability from these provisions would be achieved through a combination of repeals and amendments to specific legislation, as well as the repeal of section 122.4 of the Criminal Code.

The repeal of section 122.4, which criminalises breaches of non-disclosure duties across the statute book, will ensure that the vast majority of non-disclosure duties are instead subject to more proportionate civil and administrative sanctions.

This would ensure criminal liability only applies where strictly necessary to protect sensitive information.

The bill will also introduce a new targeted secrecy offence in the Criminal Code.

Where a new secrecy offence is introduced, it is critical that it addresses unauthorised disclosures that have a genuine need for criminal consequence.

The government considered whether it was necessary for a broader general secrecy offence that criminalised disclosures prejudicial to the working of government, as recommended by the 2023 secrecy review. But we have heard the views of stakeholders, who told us that such a broad offence was not warranted. And we agree.

Instead, the bill seeks to address specific gaps in the secrecy framework that were identified when a former PwC partner allegedly shared confidential Commonwealth information. This type of conduct is clearly unacceptable. People who are entrusted with sensitive government information should be met with criminal sanction if they intentionally and improperly use that information for their own benefit or to the detriment of the Commonwealth or others.

The bill will address this type of conduct by introducing a targeted secrecy offence. This offence would apply where a Commonwealth officer or other person connected to the Commonwealth improperly communicates or uses Commonwealth information to obtain benefit or cause a detriment.

An important part of these amendments is the protection of press freedoms which is integral to the functioning of an effective democracy.

The bill will also legislate a new requirement that the Attorney-General consent to the prosecution of a journalist for any secrecy offence.

This will operate as an additional safeguard for press freedom, requiring proper scrutiny of a prosecution before it proceeds and complementing the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions requirement that the prosecution be in the public interest.

The government undertook significant analysis of secrecy offences to consider whether a public interest journalism defence could be applied to additional offences, beyond those in the Criminal Code. The majority of Commonwealth secrecy offences are targeted at government employees or those working with government, and therefore the conduct of journalists is not captured. A defence is therefore not necessary in these circumstances.

For those offences that could apply to journalists, there was a clear necessity for protecting the information subject to each relevant offence. This information includes national security and law enforcement information, highly sensitive commercial and personal information or information that is already subject to tailored mechanisms for disclosures in the public interest.

Rather, the bill is focused on reducing the number and complexity of secrecy provisions and ensuring that the secrecy offences in the Criminal Code are appropriately calibrated to balance confidentiality and transparency.

Finally, the bill would make amendments to implement recommendations agreed or agreed in principle in the government response to the INSLM secrecy review. These amendments would ensure the secrecy offences in the Criminal Code are proportionate and consistent with rule-of-law principles.

Significant amendments will be made to the secrecy offences that apply to non-officials, including journalists. These amendments ensure that non-officials are subject to a higher threshold for criminal culpability than Commonwealth officials. They include increasing thresholds to trigger criminal liability and nearly halving the penalty of imprisonment to ensure these offences are proportionate.

Offences applying to Commonwealth officials will also be amended. These amendments will establish a single material threshold of harm for disclosures that cause harm to Australia's interests and clarify key definitions. They will also ensure that an official is only subject to an aggravated offence where their conduct could cause a higher level of harm or their personal circumstances increase their culpability.

The bill delivers on the government's commitment to comprehensive and considered secrecy reform.

Good government means safeguarding what must remain confidential while enabling the public to scrutinise and hold institutions to account. The task before us is not to choose between secrecy and transparency, but to balance them wisely.

The bill delivers this balance.

I commend the bill to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.

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