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Judges should be reinstated to authorise ASIO powers, LCA says
Australia’s premier legal body has urged Parliament to consider reinstating the crucial, secure role that judges play in authorising ASIO’s extraordinary questioning powers.
Naomi Neilson
With Parliament considering a number of major amendments to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill, the Law Council of Australia (LCA) has warned that the proposed extraordinary powers require extraordinary safeguards best achieved by the reinstatement of judges to authorise ASIO’s questioning powers.
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LCA president Pauline Wright noted the bill proposes to widen compulsory questioning powers and will remove the independent role of judges in the authorisation of warrants. The removal of this authorisation would eliminate legislation created by John Howard’s government when the compulsory questioning regime was first designed.
“This will give the Attorney-General alone, as a minister of the government, the powers to issue warrants,” Ms Wright said. “Not only does it remove an existing safeguard, but it makes Australia even more an outlier with like-minded counterparts in the Five Eyes alliance. None of those countries have compulsory questioning powers for any security purposes, and all of their surveillance requires judicial approval.”
Ms Wright added that judicial authorisations offer the “strongest possible assurances” to the public of independence and rigours in the issuance of the warrants. If the regime is to be retained, this authorisation is the “single-most important” safeguard.
“Given that ASIO’s questioning activities will be covert to the general public, its utmost degree of independence in substance and perception is crucial to maintaining the state of trust that underpins the social compact between the Australian community and ASIO which we entrust and empower to keep us safe,” Ms Wright said.
