The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is required under Section 29(1)(a) of the Intelligence Services Act 2001, to conduct an annual review of the administration, expenditure and financial statements of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO), Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO), the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Office of National Intelligence (ONI).

For the Committee’s review of the Administration and Expenditure No. 22 of these Australian intelligence agencies, the Committee continues to seek evidence as to:

• each agency’s administration and ability to meet its objectives within budget parameters; and

• the health of each agency’s financial statements and general administration.

In addition, the Committee has determined that its 2022-23 review will also examine the following areas and is seeking additional information in submissions to address:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Bio-Intelligence, including governance—being the ethical and responsible management of AI, ML and Bio-Intelligence systems, ensuring that they are developed, deployed, and used in a manner that aligns with societal values and priorities in addition to the Australian Government’s intelligence priorities, how AI, ML and Bio-Intelligence internal systems are assessed against common standards, details of that assessment, common trends and future challenges in this space.
• Detail of policies, guidelines and other initiatives for staff support services; including the provision of psychological support services, as well as support of staff career development in terms of career planning.
• Strategic workforce planning activities and initiatives in development or implemented, aimed at attracting and retaining culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) staff with native language proficiency.
• The use of external contractors including PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY; including the value of contracts (starting value and end value), whether contracts were awarded to an entity that also assisted in any aspect of the tender process, and any initiatives aimed at reducing the use of such contractors.

The Committee requests submissions to the review by Friday, 24 November 2023.

Making a submission
Prospective submitters are advised that any submission to the inquiry must be prepared solely for the inquiry and should not be published prior to being accepted by the Committee. Further information about making a submission to a committee inquiry can be found at www.aph.gov.au/makesubmission.