Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Science, Jobs and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Professor Williams criticised the definition of 'national security' for being 'uncertain and overbroad'. The government rejects this. This isn't correct. Espionage offences currently refer to 'security and defence of Australia', with no definition. In this bill, this term is replaced by 'national security', which is in turn exhaustively defined in a way that is consistent with definitions in other longstanding acts, including the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 and the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004.