The Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 was introduced into the House of Representatives by the Hon Peter Dutton MP, the then Minister for Home Affairs, on 10 December 2020 and was referred to the Committee by the Hon Christian Porter MP, the then Attorney-General, on 11 December 2020 for inquiry and report. The Bill proposes amendments to the existing Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018.
Section 60A of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 requires the Committee to commence a review into the operation, effectiveness and implications of the reforms introduced in the Act by 11 April 2021.
As the Bill referred amends the regime provided for by the existing Act, which would be reviewed as per section 60A, the Attorney-General suggested that the Committee commence the statutory review in conjunction with the Bill review, especially in relation to “the requirement at paragraph 60A(l)(b) noting that the Bill seeks to amend the SOCI Act to capture additional assets as critical infrastructure assets. This requires the Committee to consider the appropriateness of a unified scheme to cover all critical infrastructure assets”.
The Committee agreed with this contention, and launched the statutory review of the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 in conjunction with the Bill review.