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IGIS Annual Report 1987-88 |
IGIS Annual Report 1987-88
29 August 1988
The Hon R.J.L. Hawke, AC, MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
MY dear Prime Minister
I have pleasure in submitting to you the second Annual Report on my operations, in a form suitable for tabling in Parliament. on the basis of advice from ASIO and the Department of Defence, certain passages in the version I submitted to you earlier have been deleted or abbreviated on grounds of national security.
Yours sincerely
N.D. McInnes
Inspector-General of
Intelligence and Security
LEGISLATION
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act was amended in December 1987 to give the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security the function of inquiring into any act or practice that may be inconsistent with or contrary to human rights or constitute unlawful discrimination in relation to the intelligence and security agencies. To give effect to the change, amendments were also made to the Human Rights and Equal opportunity Cormission Act. As the law now stands, the Cozmission refers such complaints to the Inspector-General for inquiry.
COMPLAINTS AND INQUIRIES
I received 15 requests from members of the public for information or assistance in dealing with one or other of the intelligence agencies, and, in addition, 13 specific complaints, all of which related to ASIO. Eight of these complaints came from members of the public and, after inquiring into them, I decided that none of them called for any further action; the complainants were so advised. Four complaints came from employees, or groups of employees, within the agency. one matter is still pending but the other three related to management decisions, which are not for me to review; I counselled ASIO staff accordingly. Finally, one complaint came from a public servant regarding the personnel security assessment process. I conducted a full inquiry into it which led, beyond the satisfactory resolution of the individual case, to the conclusion in my report to the Attorney-General that there exists a difficulty, perhaps even a deficiency, in one aspect of the security assessment process. At the request of the Attorney-General, his Department is now looking into that matter.
C0MPLAINTS PROM AGENCY STAFF
An important function of this office is to provide counselling to staff of intelligence agencies who have problems with their work which they cannot resolve within their agency and which they might therefore be tempted to take up with unauthorised persons, with consequent damage to national security.
A legal difficulty has arisen in relation to sub-section 18(2) of the ASIO Act which prohibits a member of that Organization from divulging without authorisation "any information or matter that has come to his knowledge or into his possession by reason of his being, or having been, an officer or employee of the organization".
An ASIO officer providing me with classified information, seen by him or her as necessary adequately to establish his or her complaint, could be in breach of this provision. I have written to the Attorney-General raising this difficulty. Arrangements are under way to have it discussed between officers of relevant authorities with a view to deciding how best to resolve it.
MINISTERIAL DIRECTION OF DSD
In the course of the year the Government, in response to a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Australials Security and Intelligence Agencies, approved, and the Minister for Defence issued to DSD, rules relating to the interception of a foreign communication originated by, or directed to, an Australian person. Arrangements are now in place whereby I shall regularly monitor DSD's compliance with those Rules, the purpose of which is to protect the privacy of Australian citizens and permanent residents from intrusion, be it deliberate or incidental, by DSD's activities.
PROTECTION OF PRIVACY
In addition to the Rules that now apply to DSD, the other two intelligence collection agencies, ASIO and ASIS, are subject to broadly comparable controls, whether by law or by Ministerial direction, over their handling of material relating to Australians. Thus, machinery is now in place to protect the privacy of Australian citizens and permanent residents from unwarranted intrusion, be it deliberate or incidental, by the intelligence services. That machinery is subject to regular monitoring by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, quite apart from my extensive power to inquire into specific complaints.
MINISTERIAL DIRECTION OF ASIO
During the year the Attorney-General issued to ASIO several sets of guidelines to be observed in the performance of its functions. Copies of the guidelines were provided to me, in order that I can monitor the agencyls compliance with them. one of those sets of guidelines, relating to politically motivated violence, was also laid before Parliament without deletion.
ACCOMMODATION
My problem of finding independent and secure premises, which are nevertheless accessible to members of the public, has been resolved by an offer of accommodation within the building occupied by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
ANNUAL REPORTS OF AGENCIES
All the agencies made available copies of their annual reports in their integral form although not required to do so by the legislation. In view of this co-operation, I did not persist in a suggestion to the Government that it ask Parliament to amend the law so as to require the agencies to provide copies of their reports, which are necessary for the work of this Office.
OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
The Public Service Act requires each department in the Australian Public Service to prepare and submit an Industrial Democracy Plan and an Equal Employment Opportunity Program. Since my Office is deemed to be a separate department, these requirements apply and have been fulfilled. In the case of the EEO Program, this was achieved by my Office combining with the Department of the Prize Minister and Cabinet for such purposes.
Expenditure by the office for the period ending 30 June 1988 was $264,019.