Information about the inquiry

Inquiry into the provisions of the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Bill 2006

Information about the inquiry

On 1 March 2006, the Senate referred the above Bill to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 27 March 2006.

The Bill amends the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 to implement certain recommendations of the Report of the Review of the Regulation of Access to Communications (the Blunn Report). 

 The Bill proposes to:

  • establish a regime to govern access to stored communications held by a telecommunications carrier;
  • enable the interception of communications of a person known to communicate with a person of interest;
  • enable interception of communications from an identified telecommunications device such as a mobile phone handset;
  • remove the distinction between class 1 and class 2 offences for which telecommunications interception powers are available to law enforcement agencies; and
  • remove the Telecommunications Interception Remote Authority Connection function currently exercised by the Australian Federal Police and transfer the associated warrant register function to the Department administering the legislation.

Lodging Submissions

Submissions are called for by 13 March 2006. Submissions become Committee documents and are only made public after a decision by the Committee. Unauthorised release of submissions is not covered by parliamentary privilege. Further assistance can be obtained by phoning the secretariat on (02) 6277 3560.

 For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone: +61 2 6277 3560
Fax: +61 2 6277 5794
Email: legcon.sen@aph.gov.au