Summary

Amends the:

, and to prohibit the conferral of certain powers of the Attorney-General upon another minister; to remove the ability of the Attorney-General to delegate certain powers; to provide defences for four offences relating to tampering or interfering with telecommunications carrier facilities, unauthorised modification of data and unauthorised impairment of electronic communications; to: amend the membership of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security; and provide that the minister may direct the Australian Secret Intelligence Service to undertake activities of a specific or general nature, or by way of a class or classes; to enable the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) to use, record and disclose spent convictions information; and to provide annual reporting requirements in relation to public interest disclosures received by, and complaints made to, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS); to remove six intelligence agencies from the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s jurisdiction; to remove the exemption for documents relating to the non-intelligence functions of the Australian Hydrographic Office; and to require proceedings in relation to security records under the to be heard in the Security Division of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT); and and to provide that the IGIS is obliged to provide evidence in proceedings only where the material in the proceedings relates to agencies the IGIS oversees.