IGIS Annual Report 1998-99

PERFORMANCE

 

30. The effectiveness of the office may be assessed against a range of quantitative and qualitative performance indicators, including:

• the time taken to resolve or deal with complaints to the Inspector-General;

• acceptance by ministers and agency heads of recommendations of the Inspector-General;
• the extent to which there has been change within the agencies as a result of the office's activities; and
• the level of assurance I can give that the agencies are conducting their activities legally, with propriety, and with regard to human rights.

Timeliness of Inquiries

31. At the commencement of the 1998-99 reporting period only one complaint remained open, which I was able to close almost immediately.

32. In the five years between 1 July 1994 and 30 June 1999, the average length of time for preliminary or full inquiries to be dealt with to conclusion was 183 days per case.

33. During 1998-99, the average time taken to conclude a preliminary or full inquiry was 48 days per case.

34. The office's capacity to reduce this figure further will depend on the complexity of the cases and proposed changes to the IGIS Act, which are described elsewhere in this report.

35. People whose complaints are dealt with administratively normally receive a reply in less than a week. .

Acceptance of Recommendations

36. During the reporting period I made one formal recommendation to the Attorney-General, concerning the ability of persons seeking protection visas to obtain a merits based review of security assessments made by ASIO. This recommendation resulted from an inquiry into a complaint. The Attorney-General has undertaken to consider this recommendation in the context of a review of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Change within agencies

37. In the course of, or following, inspection visits to each of the collection agencies, (ASIO, ASIS and DSD), I made a number of suggestions on how procedures could be streamlined or improved. These suggestions were invariably acted upon. The agencies also increasingly sought views on proposed policies and procedures where issues of propriety and/or legality arose, or were likely to arise.

Level of Assurance

38. Based on my experience as Inspector-General to date, it is apparent that each of the agencies that I oversee is very conscious of their obligation to operate within both the letter and the spirit of the law in the conduct of their operations. There have been minor human errors and technical mistakes but I have come across no evidence to suggest that the intelligence and security agencies have deliberately acted, or wish to act, beyond their authority.

39. The intelligence collection agencies, which conduct activities potentially affecting the interests of individual Australians, have in place detailed and effective internal procedures designed to ensure that breaches of propriety, the law and human rights do not occur. There is no evidence of systemic deficiencies which would lead to such breaches.

 

Back

Contents

Next

---