David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present reports of the committee, as listed at item 13 on today's Order of Business, and move:

That the Senate take note of the reports.

The Review of administration and expenditure No.14 (2014-2015) report fulfils one of the committee's key statutory oversight responsibilities: to review the administration and expenditure of the six Australian intelligence agencies on an ongoing basis. The report relates to the 2014-15 financial year. The committee received comprehensive submissions and conducted private hearings with each intelligence agency and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security during the 44th Parliament. The committee's final hearing was conducted on 2 May 2016, shortly before prorogation of that parliament. The review lapsed on prorogation and was resumed early in the 45th Parliament.

The period under review was characterised by significant changes to Australia's national security legislation. Four separate bills were reviewed by this committee during 2014-15. Following passage of those bills, agencies gained new or expanded powers. In addition, in August 2014 the government announced a cross-agency funding package to support counterterrorism measures. At the same time, the government announced that the efficiency dividend would no longer apply to the Office of National Assessments and the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. The committee welcomes these measures. In relation to the Inspector-General, the committee considers it is essential that as parliament grants additional powers to the intelligence agencies, oversight be correspondingly strengthened. This includes ensuring that the Inspector-General's office is resourced at a level that allows it to appropriately execute its responsibilities.

Turning to the committee's conclusions, I am pleased to report that the committee considered the six intelligence agencies to be overseeing their administration and expenditure appropriately. The committee noted, however, that while the funding pressures faced by agencies were reduced somewhat during 2014-15 by the additional funding to support counterterrorism capabilities and other initiatives, ASIO and ASIS continued to face pressure in other areas.

For a number of years now, the committee has monitored the impact of the efficiency dividend and other savings measures on the intelligence agencies. As in previous reviews, the committee again sought assurances that each agency continues to have the necessary resources to address Australia's national security priorities. ASIO and ASIS are now the only two intelligence agencies that are not quarantined from the efficiency dividend. The committee has questioned why the efficiency dividend should continue to apply to those organisations, noting in particular that a January 2015 review of Australia's counterterrorism machinery by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet recommended that, in addition to the ONA and the Office of the IGIS, the efficiency dividend be removed from, or significantly reduced for, the operations of ASIO, ASIS and the AFP. The committee has accordingly recommended, in line with the PM&C recommendation, that the efficiency dividend be removed from all ASIO, ASIS and AFP operations. Our intelligence and security agencies need sufficient base funding to meet all of their obligations. This means that funding is required to not only to deal with the increased threat to the community from terrorism, but also other significant external threats such as foreign espionage and cyber attacks. The committee will continue to monitor the effect of funding decisions in its future reviews.

I will turn now to the Review of the listing and re-listing of four terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code report. The Criminal Code enables the committee to review all listings of terrorist organisations and report its findings to the parliament within the 15-day disallowance period. It is an offence to direct the activities of, be a member of, associate with or conduct a range of activities in support of a listed terrorist organisation. Three of the four organisations reviewed by the committee were listed for the first time in November 2016: al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, an al-Qaeda affiliated extremist group that aims to advance al-Qaeda's anti-Western ideology in South Asia; Islamic State in Libya, an officially recognised Islamic State affiliate that adheres to the group's global jihadist ideology and aims to establish three Islamic State provinces in Libya; Islamic State Sinai Province, an officially recognised Islamic State affiliate that has been tasked to help establish a caliphate in Egypt's Sinai province and, over the long term, Israel and the Palestinian territories. The committee also examined the re-listing of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula—AQAP—which was initially listed as a terrorist organisation in 2010 and re-listed in 2013. AQAP is active in Yemen and is described as 'one of al-Qaeda's most capable and active franchises'.

The committee called for submissions as part of its review and held a private hearing with ASIO and the Attorney-General's Department. In each case, the committee was satisfied that the organisation was engaged in terrorist acts or advocated terrorism. The committee has therefore supported the listing of each organisation under the Criminal Code. The committee noted that the three new listings came into effect immediately following registration of their regulations. This was contrary to the agreed practice for first-time listings. The committee has raised the issue of timing in previous reviews of Criminal Code listings. In this instance, the Attorney-General's Department advised that, due to an omission, it did not consider delaying commencement of the listings. The department has since updated its processes to ensure active consideration is given to delaying the commencement of all future first-time listings until the end of the disallowance period.

The committee maintains the view that, where there is no pressing risk to Australia's national security, listings should not come into effect until the parliamentary disallowance period has expired and the committee has concluded its review. While the committee accepts that in many cases there may be compelling reasons for the listing of a terrorist organisation not to be delayed, the committee expects these reasons to be provided. I commend the reports to the Senate and I seek leave to continue my remarks at a later date.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.