Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present the committee's Advisory report on the Foreign Intelligence Legislation Amendment Bill 2021.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—I am privileged to be able to present this report on behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. I understand that it is sought to be tabled in the Senate by the chair, Senator James Paterson, from the great state of Victoria, but I understand that, due to factors outside of his control, it has been slightly delayed, so I am privileged to be able to present it on behalf the committee at this time.

The Advisory report on the Foreign Intelligence Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 is one that the PJCIS considered appropriately and with sufficient speed to make sure that the issues that arose out of the proposed amendments were addressed. The committee has considered the proposed legislation and the importance of foreign communications warrants in section 11C of the TIA Act to overcome the difficulty intelligence agencies face in distinguishing between foreign and domestic communications in the modern technological environment. Under the reforms, the Director-General of Security will be able to apply for a warrant authorising interception of communication for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence from foreign communications. Currently the interception of any domestic communications is strictly prohibited.

The essential purpose of this bill is to provide a pathway for intelligence agencies to make sure that those who act on behalf of a foreign power are able to be appropriately observed for their activities if they seek to undermine Australian national interest and national security. In terms of the proposed legislation, the recommendations from the committee were that the legislation be amended, that the committee be notified if a mandatory written procedure, as asserted by subsection 11C(6), has been issued or varied and that the committee be provided with a briefing on the procedure as soon as practicable once it has been issued. The committee also recommended that the Foreign Intelligence Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 be amended so the committee may conduct a review of the amendments made by, if not less than, five years from when the bill receives royal assent. Subject to these amendments, it recommends the passage of said legislation because of the bill's critical role in assisting our agencies and our national intelligence community in doing their role in defending the national interests of the Commonwealth.