Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank senators for their contribution to the debate and their support for the Intelligence Services Amendment (Establishment of the Australian Signals Directorate) Bill 2018. I would also like to thank the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee for their consideration and recommendation in support of the bill and also acknowledge those who provided submissions to the committee expressing their support for the bill.

The Intelligence Services Amendment (Establishment of the Australian Signals Directorate) Bill 2018 implements the recommendations of the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review. That review recommended that ASD be established as an independent statutory agency within the Defence portfolio reporting directly to the Minister for Defence. This was endorsed by government. The report of the intelligence review was very clear in its views in ensuring that ASD is best structured into the future to meet its responsibilities and the requirements of government. In this context, the review noted:

… ASD will be better placed if it remains in the Defence portfolio but if it is in a position to operate with greater independence from the Department’s requirements, especially those in relation to its capacity to recruit, retain, train, develop and remunerate its specialist staff.

The review continued:

For ASD, the option of continuing to operate within the Department of Defence’s employment framework, even with some specific exemptions, is not the most effective way forward. It would increase the risk of losing additional critical talent, skills and capabilities. ASD needs to be more in control of its own destiny.

Noting those comments, it is also important that I make this point: the bill does not seek to alter the indispensable relationship that ASD has with the Department of Defence and, in particular, with the Australian Defence Force. Underpinning the closeness and the enduring nature of the relationship between ASD and the ADF—and consistent with recommendation 6(c) of the intelligence review—the agency now has for the first time a principal deputy director, who will become the principal deputy director-general with the passage of this bill, position that is filled by a three-star military officer. The creation of this position will ensure that, after 1 July 2018, ASD's primary support to the ADF continues.

The bill does not alter the primacy of ASD's foreign signals intelligence responsibilities as well as the use of its offensive cyberwar fighting capabilities and cybersecurity expertise in its critical support of military operations. Through the implementation of the recommendations of the intelligence review, ASD's functions to provide this support to military operations remain unchanged.

In relation to the employment of staff, ASD will operate outside the Public Service Act framework. This will provide ASD with greater flexibility to recognise the skills of its specialised workforce and to retain those with highly sought after skills, such as those with science, technology, engineering and maths qualifications in particular. While operating outside the Public Service Act framework, ASD will adopt the principles of the Public Service Act with regard to its employees to the extent that the Director-General of ASD considers they are consistent with the effective performance of the functions of the directorate.

I would like to briefly touch on a matter raised by the committee with regard to providing greater clarity to staff around employment conditions. I can assure the Senate and the staff of ASD that workplace agreements and staff entitlements, including mobility rights and maternity leave benefits, will not be adversely affected by the establishment of ASD as a statutory agency. In particular, the incoming Director-General of ASD will work with the Australian Public Service Commissioner to make sure that the redeployment register continues to be available to excess ASD employees. To ensure that employees will retain access to maternity leave entitlements, the government and ASD are working towards amending the regulations in the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973, with ASD actively working towards the necessary changes occurring before it becomes an independent statutory agency on 1 July.

The bill also includes an additional function for ASD to protect the specialised technologies and capabilities acquired in the performance of its other functions. ASD can't perform its important functions without being able to protect its tools to ensure their ongoing utility, which ultimately helps to protect Australia's national interests. The bill also makes a number of transitional provisions to ensure that the good governance of ASD continues during the implementation of the new arrangements.

Importantly, the bill also strengthens the oversight and transparency arrangements for ASD. As an independent statutory agency, ASD will have new corporate reporting obligations, in particular through meeting the requirements of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. In turn, ASD will have its own component of the Defence portfolio budget statements, and officers will attend Senate estimates hearings not as part of the Department of Defence but as a separate statutory entity. ASD will be required to publicly report on its performance through the release of an annual report.

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security is a critically important element of Australia's oversight arrangements for the intelligence community to ensure that all relevant agencies are operating legally and with propriety. Through the implementation of recommendation 22 of the Independent intelligence review, the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security will have its resourcing significantly increased to ensure that it can continue its important work as the scale and complexity of the operations of agencies like ASD increases.

The establishment of ASD as a statutory authority puts the agency on a similar footing to the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation as a national security and intelligence asset. Given the critical operational support that ASD provides to the Australian Defence Force, and its increased national responsibilities in relation to cybersecurity, ASD will now have the appropriate statutory functions to ensure it is well placed to support ADF operations as well as its responsibilities for combatting cybercrime, including the provision of advice to the private sector into the future. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.