List of recommendations
The Committee recommends the Australian Government amend the Auditor General Act 1997 and the Intelligence Services Act 2001, as necessary, to enable the Auditor-General to:
undertake audits on matters related to National Intelligence Community agencies where the Auditor-General regards this as appropriate; providing that classified reports of such audits are to be presented to Parliament via submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and are exempt from presentation to the House of Representatives and Senate (to the extent they contain classified material); and
provide the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security with copies of classified ANAO reports provided to relevant ministers relating to the agencies under the Committee’s oversight, where the Auditor-General regards this as appropriate, and subject to the relevant provisions of the Intelligence Services Act 2001 governing the provision of information to the Committee.
The Committee recommends the Australian Government amend legislation to enable classified annual reports of intelligence agencies subject to review of Administration and Expenditure under the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to be provided to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
The Committee recommends that the Office of National Intelligence work with the National Intelligence Community (NIC) to develop consistent data collection on staff movement and staff retention, and work to develop a whole-of-NIC strategy to improve attraction and retention.
The Committee recommends that the Office of National Intelligence update the Committee in 12 months on its progress in this area.
The Committee recommends that the Director-General of Security consider reporting publicly, when appropriate opportunities arise, on the prevalence of disinformation, misinformation and harmful propaganda that threaten Australia’s national security, their sources, and strategies undertaken by intelligence agencies to reduce their impact.