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

I thank Senator Kitching for her question. I can confirm, as has been stated on the public record, that there is no proposal before the government to expand the powers of the Australian Signals Directorate to enable it to collect intelligence on Australians or covertly access their private data. Indeed, in relation to the story, which contained a number of fallacious and incorrect pieces of material, the Secretary of the Department of Defence, the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs and the Director of the Australian Signals Directorate issued a statement, on 29 April, very clearly outlining the position in regard to ASD's powers, and I think it is appropriate to put that on the record. They said:

In relation to today's media claim, there is no proposal to increase the ASD's powers to collect intelligence on Australians or to covertly access their private data.

ASD's cyber security function is being enhanced under reforms agreed by the Government last year in response to the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review.

The Parliament has already passed legislation establishing ASD as an independent statutory agency within the Defence portfolio on 28 March 2018 in response to this recommendation.

The cyber security function entails protecting Australians from cyber-enabled crime and cyber-attacks, and not collecting intelligence on Australians. These are two distinct functions, technically and operationally.

In the ever changing world of cyber security as officials we should explore all options to protect Australians and the Australian economy.

We would never provide advice to Government suggesting that ASD be allowed to have unchecked data collection on Australians – this can only ever occur within the law, and under very limited and controlled circumstances.