Peter Dutton to head up super security ministry

BY NEXT year, Australia’s battles with criminals and terrorists will be run by a new Department of Home Affairs under Peter Dutton.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton and Attorney-General George Brandis announce a new home affairs department at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

BY NEXT year, Australia’s battles with criminals and terrorists will be run by a new Department of Home Affairs under Peter Dutton.

ASIO, the Australian Federal Police and Border Protection will retain statutory independence but will be gathered into a super agency, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced today.

Other bodies in the super agency will include the Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Transactional Reports and Analysis Centre, and the Office of Transport Security.

The hub will oversee policy and strategic planning.

Ministers who might have worked against the overhaul have been placated with special roles.

The need for a new supreme intelligence body is global crime and terrorism, but the inspiration for the change was Britain’s Home Office, not the American Department of Homeland Security.

However, the most significant change in Australian intelligence since the creation of ASIO 68 years ago won’t be finalised until early next year at the soonest.

Some legislation will be needed and this will see the detail tested in the Senate, particularly by the Greens.

It is certain to be a high-profile department by the time of the next election, and it will boost the leadership prospects of Home Affairs Minister Dutton.

Senior members of these bodies had opposed the idea but Mr Turnbull was determined to implement it, without overwhelming cabinet support.

“This is my decision. The machinery of government decisions are taken by the Prime Minister,” Mr Turnbull told reporters today.

He said this decision was “driven by operational logic”.

One of the front benchers affected, Justice Minister Michael Keenan, backed the move, saying “supercharged radical Islamic terrorism” since 2014 had brought about a change to official structures.

Mr Keenan has a role as “an important security-focus minister” working with Mr Dutton.

Attorney-General George Brandis also had not been an early fan of the consolidation, but today gave it full support. He has been given authority over how the new department operates within the law.

The Prime Minister said Senator Brandis would be “the minister for oversight, the minister for integrity, the minister for the rule of law”.

Mr Turnbull addressed the “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it” objections to the restructuring, saying Australia had been well served by the intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

“When it comes to our nation’s security, we must stay ahead of he threats against us,” he told reporters.

“There is no room for complacency, there is no room for set-and-forget.

“Ad hoc arrangements do not adequately prepare us for the complex security future we face.”

Last November, Mr Turnbull ordered a review of intelligence operations to be released today.

However, it does not cover the matter of a single security department.

It wasn’t asked to.

But it does recommend an Office of National Intelligence, said Mr Turnbull, “to ensure a more effective co-ordination of Australia’s intelligence effort”.

“This is a lesson we’ve learned from the UK that having a central policy process leads to better operational outcomes,” he said.