House of Representatives

Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020

Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021

Addendum to the Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Karen Andrews MP)
This addendum responds to issues raised by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills in Scrutiny Digest No. 5 of 2021, dated 17 March 2021, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights in Report 3 of 2021, dated 17 March 2021, and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's Advisory Report on the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020, tabled 5 August 2021.

GENERAL OUTLINE

On page 4, after paragraph 12, insert the following paragraph:

"It is anticipated that the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) may provide assistance to the AFP and the ACIC in relation to data disruption. This would be facilitated through ASD's existing functions under paragraph 7(1)(e) of the Intelligence Services Act 2001 (the IS Act) and the information sharing provisions in the SD Act. ASD's assistance under paragraph 7(1)(e) of the IS Act will be overseen by the IGIS, consistent with other ASD powers.

If an ASD officer is seconded to the AFP or the ACIC, they would only have access to the powers and functions of an AFP or ACIC staff member, and not those available to an ASD staff member. In this scenario, the use of those powers and functions would be subject to oversight by the Ombudsman, consistent with other powers of the AFP or ACIC.

This is because oversight agencies oversee the activities of an agency, not an individual. Oversight arrangements are determined by reference to the agency which is exercising the powers."

On page 5, in paragraph 20, replace "Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)" with "ASD".

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