Parliamentary Oversight

The Intelligence Services Act 2001 established the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS).  The functions of this committee are primarily:

  • to review the administration and expenditure of ASIO, ASIS, DIGO, DIO, DSD and ONA, including the annual financial statements of ASIO, ASIS, DIGO, DIO, DSD and ONA;
  • to review any matter in relation to ASIO, ASIS, DIGO, DIO, DSD or ONA referred to the Committee by the responsible Minister; or  a resolution of either House of the Parliament; and
  • to report the Committee’s comments and recommendations to each House of the Parliament and to the responsible Minister.

The IGIS and the intelligence agencies are also subject to scrutiny by Senate Estimates committees on their budget allocations and issues relevant to their functions.

ASIO and IGIS produce annual reports which are tabled in the Parliament.  The activities of DSD, DIO and DIGO are referred to in the Department of Defence annual report, while ONA and ASIS do not produce public annual reports.

The IGIS annual reports record among other things the number and nature of complaints to the IGIS and the monitoring activities undertaken by the IGIS.  Where possible the IGIS annual reports include as annexes major inquiry results released publicly.

Diagram depicting Australian Intelligence Community accountability relationships - PDF 50KB | RTF 156KB