House of Representatives

Revised Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Honourable Peter Dutton MP)

General Outline

1. The Security of Critical Infrastructure (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2017 amends the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (ASIO Act) and the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (FATA Act) to reflect the proposed operation of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017.

2. The Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill is designed to strengthen the Government's capacity to manage the national security risks of espionage, sabotage and coercion arising from foreign involvement in Australia's critical infrastructure.

3. Effective and efficient information sharing between Commonwealth entities is important to the success of a coordinated approach to managing national security risks. The Foreign Investment Review Board process is an existing mechanism through which the Government can implement mitigations to address national security risks arising from proposed transactions. Ensuring that Australia's national security agencies have appropriate access to this information is key to a comprehensive consideration of national security risks.

4. The Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill introduces two regulatory measures:

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a critical infrastructure asset register to capture and track information about who owns and operates Australia's most critical assets in the high-risk sectors, and

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a Ministerial directions power for the Minister to seek information and issue directions to owners and operators of critical assets in the high-risk sectors when a there is a risk that is prejudicial to security that cannot otherwise be mitigated.

Clause 1 - Short title

5. This clause provides for the short title of the Bill, if enacted, to be the Security of Critical Infrastructure (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Act 2017.

Clause 2 - Commencement

6. This clause provides that Schedule 1 of this Bill will come into effect immediately after the commencement of clause 32 of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill. The whole of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill comes into effect at the date of Proclamation or, if Proclamation does not occur within three months after the Bill receives Royal Assent, then the Bill will commence the day after three months from Royal Assent. Proclamations, which are made by the Governor-General, are the preferred method for providing discretion to fix a commencement date for a Bill.

7. This clause also provides that Schedule 2 of this Bill will commence the day after it receives the Royal Assent.

Clause 3 - Schedules

8. This clause provides that upon enactment of this Bill, an Act that is specified in the Schedules is amended or repealed as set out in that Schedule. This provision sets out the purpose of the Bill, which is to make amendments to other Commonwealth legislation to reflect the proposed operation of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill.