SENATE

2 SENATE Thursday, 13 October 2016
and was restored to the Notice Paper again to enable it to be advanced in the new parliament. This bill brings
together a series of proposals designed to improve the operation of this significant joint statutory committee. The
proposals are designed to make it more accountable and adaptable to the needs of the parliament and are also
designed to enable the committee to have a greater amount of discretion in the way it conducts oversight of our
intelligence and security agencies.
At the outset, I want to acknowledge the role of former senator John Faulkner in initiating the drafting and
consultation on this bill. I might interpose here that Mr Faulkner recently gave up some of his time to come and
address new senators on the way in which estimates runs. The bill is one of the legacies of Mr Faulkner's long
parliamentary career and his determination to support and enhance parliamentary oversight of our intelligence and
security agencies. Then Senator Faulkner first prepared this bill for introduction in 2014, presenting it to the
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security for consideration and comment, but retired before he
was able to introduce the bill into the Senate. Labor is pleased to pursue the reforms contained in this bill
originated by Mr Faulkner. John Faulkner served in the cabinets of two Labor governments and under three prime
ministers and as Minister for Defence. He understood better than most the importance of being strong on national
security, but he also understood that strength on national security does not come from tough rhetoric—it does not
come from chest thumping or inflammatory statements; it comes from having intelligence and security agencies of
the highest calibre that can be trusted to protect the rights and the liberties of the Australian people without
trampling upon them. John Faulkner also understood that effective and rigorous parliamentary oversight is critical
to the maintenance of public support of our national security architecture, particularly in these times.
This bill serves both those objectives. Effective scrutiny and oversight strengthen public support for our
agencies and they also strengthen the agencies subject to oversight. As elected representatives gather in the
national parliament, we can never outsource our duty to ensure the security of our nation and the people who
entrust us with the responsibility of governing. This is as true when we are in times of relative peace as it is when
we see emerging threats to our national security. This parliament must not deny our intelligence and security
agencies the necessary powers and resources to protect Australian citizens and Australian interests. However, it
must be recognised that these powers can impinge upon the values and freedoms on which our democracy is
founded—values and freedoms which the Australian people correctly expect parliament to protect. As with so
many things, this parliament must find the right balance between the security imperatives of our nation and the
liberties and the freedoms of our people. The central plank of the intelligence and security framework is strong
and effective accountability. Enhanced powers demand enhanced safeguards. Public trust and confidence in our
security and intelligence agencies can only be ensured fully through strong and rigorous oversight and scrutiny.
I want to talk about the environment that we are confronted with. We know that over the last 15 years in
particular this parliament has scrutinised and passed many pieces of legislation which have contributed to the
development of a legislative architecture relating to our security and intelligence agencies. This has been in
response to developments in the security situation, which has altered in new and significant ways over time. It also
reflects changes in technology, which means that our intelligence and security agencies must operate in a higher
level of sophistication with specialist expertise. There has generally been a high level of cooperation in the
parliament to secure bipartisan agreement on national security legislation. Of course, bipartisanship does not mean
taking an uncritical approach to proposals or additional or amended national security language or legislation.
In order to ensure rights and liberties are protected, it is essential that all parties approach legislative proposals
with a discerning eye. In the current parliament, this Senate has dealt with a number of very significant pieces of
national security legislation, and all have been subject to scrutiny by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on
Intelligence and Security. Each piece of legislation has been amended as a result of recommendations of the
committee, sometimes quite extensively. This is an example of the process of parliamentary scrutiny at work.
Likewise, the addition of other perspectives in the Senate debate ensures all views are ultimately considered and
represented before the legislation comes to a vote.
As agencies continue to seek, and are granted, additional powers to meet contemporary threats, so too must
scrutiny and oversight keep pace. In recent years Australia has benefited from professional and well-run
intelligence and security agencies. Labor acknowledges their work. They have demonstrated respect and
understanding of the role of the parliament, the government of the day and our laws. But the personal integrity and
quality of leaders of our agencies, as important as this is, are not reliable, effective safeguards against the abuse of
security powers. It is the responsibility of parliament to prescribe safeguards that keep pace with the expansion of
security powers that have been deemed necessary.
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that the adequacy and effectiveness of parliamentary oversight of
intelligence and security agencies is in keeping with the development and enhancement of additional powers we
have afforded to these agencies. It amends the Intelligence Services Act 2001, the Independent National Security
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