Review of the Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2005

The Intelligence Services Act 2001 ("the ISA") came into force on 29 October 2001. The ISA stemmed largely from the 1995 Commission of Inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) - one of the key findings of this Inquiry was the need for a legislative base for ASIS. The ISA also established legislative bases for the activities of the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), and for the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Security Intelligence Organsiation (ASIO), ASIS and DSD (PJCAAD), which replaced the former Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO.

In March 2004, the Prime Minister announced an independent review of the Australian foreign intelligence community including, inter alia, the effectiveness of oversight and accountability mechanisms; the suitability of the current division of labour among the agencies; the contestability of intelligence assessments and the adequacy of current resourcing of intelligence agencies. Mr Philip Flood AO conducted the Inquiry into Australian Intelligence Agencies ("the Flood Inquiry") and submitted his report to the Prime Minister in July 2004. The Bill implements several recommendations from the Flood Inquiry.

The Committee is not calling for submissions but will consider the Bill on the papers.

Submissions

Private hearings

Report