Chapter 1Introduction

1.1The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement (the committee) has a duty to examine each annual report on the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC).[1] The duty arises from an expectation that agencies which have been granted strong coercive powers, such as the ACIC, should be subject to additional oversight.[2]

1.2The ACIC’s annual report for 2022–23 was tabled in the Senate and the House of Representatives on 18 October 2023.[3] The letter of transmittal indicates that it was presented to the Attorney-General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, on 25September 2023.[4]

1.3As part of its scrutiny processes, the committee gathered evidence from ACIC officials at a public hearing on 5 February 2024 in Canberra. A list of witnesses is at Appendix 1. The committee thanks witnesses for their contribution to the committee’s inquiry.

1.4The committee is aware of other annual reports relating to the ACIC, including annual reports by the Chair of the ACIC Board.[5] The committee’s practice is not to examine those reports through a specific inquiry, though it typically canvasses a range of contemporary issues relating to the ACIC when it examines its annual reports.

Structure of this report

1.5This chapter provides administrative details about the committee’s inquiry and key background about the ACIC. Chapter 2 discusses key issues relating to ACIC’s performance and presents the committee’s view.

1.6Matters that fall outside the 2022-23 reporting period have been included in this report where necessary for completeness.

Key background

1.7The purpose of the ACIC is to ‘protect Australia from serious crime threats by collecting, assessing and disseminating intelligence and policing information’. Its vision is ‘[a]n Australia hostile to criminal exploitation’.[6]

1.8The ACIC Board comprises ‘senior officeholders of Commonwealth, state and territory law enforcement bodies and key regulatory and national security agencies’. The Board set out four objectives for the ACIC in the Strategic Direction 2023–2027:

a trusted source of criminal intelligence.

 comprehensive information and intelligence.

 accurate and timely background checks.

 a high-performing agency.[7]

1.9There have recently been changes to the ACIC’s leadership:

Mr Michael Phelan APM, who was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 13November2017, completed his five-year term on 12November2022.

Mr Matthew Rippon acted in the position of Chief Executive Officer from 13November2022.

Ms Heather Cook commenced a five-year appointment as Chief Executive Officer on 15January2024.[8]

Footnotes

[1]Paragraph 7(1)(c), Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement Act 2010.

[2]See the Hon Robert McClelland MP, Attorney-General, House of Representatives Hansard, 18March2010, pp. 2924–2925.

[3]Journals of the Senate, 18 October 2023, No. 75, p. 2154; House of Representatives Votes and Proceedings, 18October2023, No. 87, p. 1062.

[4]Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Annual Report 2022–23, p. iv.

[5]See section 61 of the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002.

[6]ACIC, Annual Report 2022–23, p. 4.

[7]ACIC, Annual Report 2022–23, pp. 4, 9.

[8]ACIC, Annual Report 2022–23, p. 7; Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, Attorney-General, ‘Appointment to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and Australian Institute of Criminology’, Media release, 18 December 2023.