Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my parliamentary colleagues for their contributions to this debate. The Royal Commissions Legislation Amendment (Protections for Providing Information) Bill 2026 creates a clear lawful pathway for people to provide intelligence and operationally sensitive information to a royal commission, including to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Uncertainty about the operations of secrecy laws, particularly in relation to intelligence and law enforcement material, can deter people from sharing information that is essential to a royal commission's work. It is critical that the current royal commission can obtain and assess the information it needs relating to last year's horrific Bondi terrorist attack. The bill ensures that this is possible, not only for this inquiry but for future royal commissions that need to handle sensitive, classified material.

The bill amends the Royal Commissions Act to establish a pathway for people to safely and lawfully provide information to a royal commission, without fear of criminal or civil liability. It also protects people who disclose intelligence or operationally sensitive information while seeking or providing legal advice in connection with a royal commission, and it ensures that secrecy provisions do not prevent people or agencies from complying with the royal commission's requirement to provide evidence. These are targeted measures. The new protections only apply where disclosures of intelligence and operationally sensitive information are made in line with published arrangements agreed between the royal commission and the Commonwealth, which may cover how sensitive material is obtained, stored, used, disclosed and returned. The commission must also act in accordance with those arrangements when using or communicating that information. In addition, the bill amends the Criminal Code to introduce a new defence to the general Commonwealth agency secrecy offences, where a person provides information to a royal commission. This will apply to all current and future royal commissions. Together, these reforms complement existing protections in the Royal Commissions Act and reinforce the message that people who cooperate with a royal commission should not face prosecution for doing so.

The government acknowledges the review conducted by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and I thank the committee for its work and for the report that was tabled today. Given the importance of these matters to the royal commission, the government agrees with the sole recommendation of the committee that the bill be passed as soon as possible.

With respect to additional recommendations made by the coalition senators, the government agrees in principle with the first recommendation, noting the responsibility of agencies to manage their own operations. The Attorney-General's Department will liaise with National Intelligence Community agencies to ensure that they are providing sufficient support staff. The government also notes both the second and the third recommendation by coalition senators. The government has indicated publicly that it is progressing broader reform to secrecy provisions, which will be introduced to the parliament in due course. As part of that process, the government will consider whether further review is necessary to assess the effectiveness of these reforms or whether additional amendments are necessary.

I will now go to the amendment proposed by Senator Jacqui Lambie. I thank Senator Lambie for her long interest in royal commissions, particularly the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. It's something that she has discussed on many occasions in this place, and nobody doubts her commitment to prosecuting those matters in here. On parliamentary privilege, though, the government takes a different view than Senator Lambie. The Parliamentary Privileges Act has special significance for the parliament, as the declaration of the powers, privileges and immunities of the parliament and its members. Parliamentary privilege protects the ability of the parliament to carry out its functions and activities. Any changes to parliamentary privilege should be rare and would require careful consideration. The government recognises the important work carried out by royal commissions, including the current Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, but considers that this can be achieved without infringing parliamentary privilege.

To Senator Shoebridge's point, I know he characterised the use of parliamentary reports. Those are publicly available. This really does deal with information that may have been provided to committees in a confidential way or for the purpose of producing a report, and we know that that evidence is collected using parliamentary privilege. That is of concern to the government. We want to thank Senator Lambie, but we won't be supporting her amendment. I'll just make some other comments. I know this has been discussed this morning. It will be traversed later on, but I do want to address the comments of the shadow Attorney-General in regards to Dennis Richardson.

The government has been notified that Dennis Richardson has resigned as advisor to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. The government thanks Mr Richardson for his efforts to date. This will not stop the work of the royal commission, and they will deliver important work, including an interim report, by 30 April. It has been very disappointing to see the approach of those opposite in regard to this matter, particularly the construing of comments that have been made by the Prime Minister. The most important comments for the opposition to register, to understand and to hopefully repeat in this chamber are these words from Dennis Richardson himself from today. He said that this is 'not anything to do with the government'. He said:

… the government is not responsible in anyway.

He goes on to say:

… the community should have full confidence in the royal commission …

He went on to make further comments today.

The commentary that has been coming from the opposition was put to him, and it is notable that, when Mr Richardson was asked whether the idea that it's a disaster for the royal commission is an overstatement in his view, he replied, 'Absolutely. It's an overstatement.' We have seen these overstatements from the opposition before in regards to this matter. We have seen overegging and overstatements from those opposite. I would have thought they would have learned from what happened in this place when parliament was recalled, but they obviously haven't. I will make this final comment on this matter. I think the opposition is veering dangerously close to undermining the royal commission that they called for and say they support.

We would welcome a bipartisan approach to these matters. As we have said many times, we believe that the response to this horrific attack and this royal commission should be above politics. It's a matter for the opposition to decide what pathway they take, but we know what the public thought about the opposition's approach and their decision to play politics with this incredibly important matter when parliament was recalled. The government will continue to support the royal commission to deliver its important work, and this bill ensures that the royal commission can access the information that they need to perform its vital functions.

It provides certainty for individuals and protects the integrity of sensitive information. As a result, it strengthens the ability of the royal commission to uncover the truth on matters of national importance. These reforms will support the current Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion to properly examine the tragic events at Bondi while also establishing a lasting framework that will benefit future inquiries dealing with intelligence and operationally sensitive matters. As I've said previously, these are urgent matters, and we thank the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.