Bills Digest No. 12 2001-02
Intelligence Services (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2001
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Contact Officer & Copyright Details
Intelligence Services (Consequential
Provisions) Bill 2001
Date Introduced: 27 June 2001
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Foreign Affairs
Commencement: At the same time as the
Intelligence Services Bill 2001.
To
- amend the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Act 1979 to facilitate the establishment of the Parliamentary
Joint Committee on ASIO and ASIS (PJC)
- amend the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
Act 1986 to provide for privacy issues to be canvassed in the
Annual Report of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and
Security
- amend the Acts Interpretation Act 1901;
Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977; and
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 to provide protection
for ASIS.
For background on the issues addressed by this
Bill, readers are referred to the Bills Digest on the Intelligence
Services Bill 2001.
The key provisions are those contained in
Schedule 3. These relate to amendments to the
Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (AIA); Administrative
Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (AD(JR) Act); and the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act).
Item 1 adds ASIS to the list of
organisations (ASIO and ONA) that are exempt from timeframes for
preparation and tabling of periodic reports imposed by the AIA.
Item 2 adds ASIS to the list of
organisations (including ASIO and IGIS) which are essentially
exempt from the provisions of the AD(JR) Act.
Item 3 amends the FOI Act to
provide that any document containing information relating to the
identity of ASIS staff members or agents is an exempt document for
the purposes of the FOI Act. Thus, while national security
documents are generally exempt from release under the FOI Act,
documents relating to identity are expressly exempt.
Significantly, the exemption in the FOI Act does
not prevent a person gaining access to a document 'so far as it
contains personal information about the person' (subsection
38(2)).
Nathan Hancock
1 August 2001
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 2000
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
2001.
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