Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation performs an essential role in protecting Australia and Australians from threats to their security. ASIO's compulsory questioning powers, contained in Division 3 of Part III of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, provide ASIO with a unique and necessary tool to investigate the most significant threats confronting Australia today.

In his 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, the Director-General of Security outlined ASIO's outlook to 2030, which assessed that over the next five years Australia's security environment will become more dynamic, more diverse and more degraded. Australia is facing multifaceted, merging, intersecting, concurrent, cascading threats, and if we are to ensure that Australians are safe, and feel safe, ASIO must be properly equipped to respond.

Today, I am introducing the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025, which amends ASIO's compulsory questioning powers to reflect changes in Australia's security environment and further strengthen the safeguards and oversight mechanisms in the framework.

ASIO's compulsory questioning powers were first introduced in 2003 in response to the growing threat of terrorism following the September 11 attacks in the United States. After more than 20 years, Australia's security landscape has evolved considerably, and so have the powers.

This bill acknowledges that ASIO's compulsory questioning powers remain a valuable intelligence collection tool and makes amendments to ensure that ASIO has the powers it needs to operate effectively in an increasingly complex and challenging security environment. I'll now turn to the key amendments that are contained in the bill.

The bill repeals the sunset date in Division 3 of Part III of the ASIO Act and makes the questioning powers permanent. Since its introduction, the framework has been subject to five parliamentary reviews and two independent reviews, causing the parliament to extend the sunset date five times. Removing the sunset provision reflects the government's view that these powers now form an essential part of ASIO's collection powers, particularly in light of the threat environment. ASIO has used these powers judiciously in circumstances where ASIO's other powers were not appropriate for the circumstances.

The bill also expands the security matters for which ASIO may seek an adult questioning warrant. This will enable ASIO to obtain an adult questioning warrant in relation to sabotage, attacks on Australia's defence systems, the promotion of communal violence, and serious threats to Australia's territorial and border integrity, in addition to terrorism, espionage and foreign interference. The Director-General's 2025 Annual Threat Assessment made it clear that ASIO anticipates that multiple threats will intensify over the next five years: 'The most confronting thing about the new security environment—the prevailing security environment and the future security environment—is there is no single security concern.' That is from the Director-General.

These amendments ensure that ASIO's questioning powers reflect this reality.

Importantly, the bill makes targeted amendments to further strengthen existing safeguards and oversight mechanisms to protect individual rights. These include amendments to ensure the independence and impartiality of prescribed authorities, additional safeguards for the questioning of a person who is or will imminently be charged with a criminal offence, and additional reporting requirements to ensure that the Attorney-General is made aware of any noncompliance with, or contraventions of, the requirements of a warrant. These amendments will strengthen key safeguards in the existing legislative framework to promote fairness, uphold human rights and the right to a fair trial, and enhance transparency and accountability.

Finally, the bill amends the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to permit the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to undertake a further review of the operation, effectiveness and implications of the framework three years after the commencement of this bill.

Closing remarks

The measures I've outlined in this bill deliver important reforms to ensure that ASIO has the powers it needs to respond to emerging challenges and to deliver on its mission to counter threats to Australia's security and ensure that all Australians can be safe and feel safe. The bill reflects this government's commitment to ensuring Australia's national security laws continually evolve to protect the Australian community, while ensuring that strong safeguards remain firmly in place.

I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.