Finlayson Christopher: Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill — Referral to Government Administration Committee In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill — Referral to Government Administration Committee In Committee[Sitting date: 08 August 2013. Volume:692;Page:12544. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General):I thought it might be helpful to the Committee—I will just let Mr Tisch into the Chair and thank you for your great service Mr Chairperson.The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I’m here.Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON: And I hope I get 15 extra seconds—oh you can start me again if you like.I thought it may be helpful to the Committee if I take honourable members through the key aspects of the proposed amendments in Part 2 which deals with the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1996. These proposed amendments are designed to increase oversight and to as it were beef up the office of Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. Under section 5 of the current legislation the inspector-general must be a retired High Court judge and the term of the appointment of that person is 3 years which is renewable indefinitely. The only statutory provision in this legislation is the inspector-general who has the ability to hire staff necessary to carry out the functions of the office—and that is a reference to section 10.The bill proposes a number of major changes. The first is that the requirement to be a retired High Court judge is removed and the aim of that is to provide a greater pool of candidates and experience to fill the role. The term does however remain at 3 years but an individual can serve only two terms. There is a new statutory position of Deputy Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. That person will have all the powers of the inspector-general but subject to their control and it is created to bolster the capacity of the office—a bit like I guess the Deputy Judicial Conduct Commissioner. What the bill does is recognise the expanded role of the office and help the inspector-general and indeed the Government will be making greater resources available to the inspector-general to carry out the proposed expanded role of the office.We then come to the functions of the inspector-general. Under the current legislation the inspector-general has wide-ranging functions to review the policies and the work of the intelligence agencies but I note that own-motion reviews under the 1996 Act are subject to the concurrence of the Minister. This changes quite significantly because the requirement for ministerial concurrence is removed and this will give greater autonomy and independence to the inspector-general. The bill also adds—importantly without limiting the general nature of the functions of the office—a function of auditing compliance policies and procedures. Very very importantly I refer to clause 31 which will amend section 11(1)(da) to provide the ability to conduct or carry out spot audits.The next issue concerns consultation with other oversight bodies. The inspector-general at the present time can communicate with bodies such as the Privacy Commissioner the Human Rights Commission and the Auditor-General when conducting inquiries. Importantly under the bill the Independent Police Conduct Authority is added to the list of agencies with whom the inspector-general can communicate.I want now to refer to reports of the inspector-general. Under the current legislation the inspector-general prepares an annual report and a report on each inquiry that he or she undertakes. There are limitations on the publication of reports due to the security classification. Under the proposed changes the inspector-general’s annual report must certify the extent to which each agency’s compliance systems are sound and the inspector-general will also be required to make an unclassified version of their inquiry reports publicly available on an internet site that will be maintained for the inspector-general. The aim is greater transparency and greater public scrutiny.The final point is the advisory panel. The only statutory provision in the 1996 legislation as I said is the inspector-general. As I said that person has the ability to hire staff necessary to carry out the functions of the role which are currently contained in section 11 of the Act. The bill will insert a provision for an advisory panel to be a sounding board for the inspector-general. The board consists of the inspector-general and two independent members. That is actually a matter that is referred to in Mr Dunne’s Supplementary Order Paper. I refer to it now because I think it is a very good suggestion a very sound suggestion and one that the Government is very happy to support.So in general terms what we are doing here is addressing issues of transparency and oversight and also increasing the resources of the office to reflect the increased heavy responsibilities of the inspector-general.