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)Schedule 2 - Other amendments
19. This Schedule details additional amendments to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (FATA Act) upon enactment of the Bill.
Amendments to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975
Item 1 - After paragraph 122(1)(g)
20. This item inserts the Defence Act 1903 into subsection 122(1) of the FATA Act, so that a person may disclose protected information (as defined in the FATA Act) to the Minister for Defence, or the Secretary of the Department of Defence, for the purpose of administering the Defence Act.
21. This amendment provides clarity that a purpose arising from the Defence Act is an appropriate purpose for disclosing protected information under the FATA Act. This amendment ensures effective and efficient information sharing between the department with portfolio responsibility for foreign investment in Australia and national security agencies, but particularly for defence purposes. Protected information obtained under the FATA Act would allow national security agencies to consider foreign investment information, for the purpose of assessing national security risks.
Item 2 - At the end of subsections 122(2) and (3)
22. This item inserts defence into subsections 122(2) and 122(3) of the FATA Act, so that a person may disclose protected information to a Minister, or Secretary of a Department administered by that Minister, who is responsible for defence, but only for the purpose of discharging that responsibility.
23. This amendment also provides clarity that a defence purpose is an appropriate purpose for disclosing protected information under the FATA Act. This amendment ensures effective and efficient information sharing between national security agencies and the department with portfolio responsibility for foreign investment in Australia for the purpose of assessing and mitigating national security risks, but particularly for defence purposes.
24. The inclusion of defence will make the information protections in the FATA consistent with the use and disclosure protections in Division 3 of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill.
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