Oversight of the AFP's counter-terrorism activities

4.1        As noted in chapter 1, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement (PJCLE) is established under the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010 (the PJCLE Act).

4.2        The PJCLE is responsible for the oversight of two important Commonwealth law enforcement agencies—the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). It is required to report to both houses of Parliament on certain matters related to those agencies' performance, including their annual reports.

4.3        In 2014, the government introduced a bill to amend Australia's national security arrangements, the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 (the bill). Following the bill's introduction in the Senate[1] it was referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) on 24 September 2014 by the Attorney-General.[2]

4.4        The committee has previously discussed, in its report on the AFP's 2013-14 annual report, the PJCIS' recommendations in relation to the bill and the implications of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Act 2014 (the Foreign Fighters Act). The committee will not recite them here; in brief, the Foreign Fighters Act prevents this committee from examining the AFP's counter-terrorism activities.

4.5        As is stated elsewhere in this report, it is a legislative requirement for the committee to examine each annual report of the AFP.[3] The AFP's annual report provides details about its counter‑terrorism activities. In this instance, the committee has decided to examine the entire AFP annual report, as a gap in parliamentary oversight would otherwise emerge were the committee not to examine the counter-terrorism aspects of the report.

Committee view

4.6        The committee remains concerned about its inability to examine the AFP's counter-terrorism activities. As the committee has previously stated, these activities often overlap with its important law enforcement functions and preventing the committee from overseeing this element of the AFP's work may lead to unintended gaps in parliamentary oversight and hamper the committee's ability to effectively oversee the AFP.

4.7        The committee understands the significance of maintaining appropriate oversight of Commonwealth law enforcement agencies in an increasingly high-risk security environment. However, the committee continues to question how desirable or sustainable it is for two statutory parliamentary committees to have separate oversight responsibilities over separate but often interacting responsibilities of the AFP.

4.8        The committee therefore repeats its recommendation that the government introduce amendments to re-establish the PJCLE's oversight of the AFP's counter-terrorism functions.

Recommendation 1

4.9        The committee recommends that the government introduce legislation to re-establish the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement's oversight function with respect to the monitoring, reviewing or reporting on the performance by the Australian Federal Police of its functions under Part 5.3 of the Criminal Code.

Mr Craig Kelly MP
Chair

Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page