Peter Dutton releases new accountability guidelines for ASIO

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has quietly introduced sweeping guidelines for ASIO and its officers.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Scott Morrison address media during a press conference on new federal cyber security plans. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Gary Ramage

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has introduced sweeping guidelines for ASIO and its spies, making it clear that officers who use force against people during investigations must be approp­riately trained but have an ­“inherent right” to self-defence.

The minister’s guidelines, which were quietly tabled out of session in federal parliament last week, also place responsibility on Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officers to be proactive in telling the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security when they have accessed data illegally.

The 22-page document replaces guidelines issued by former attorney-general Philip Ruddock in September 2007 and includes eight key changes.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess endorsed the new guidelines because he wanted to ensure the agency “does not only do what is lawful, it does what is right”.

“The government’s actions should help reassure Australians that ASIO acts in a targeted, proportionate and ethical way,” Mr Burgess said.

“It is critically important that the guidelines are kept up to date to reflect the changes in legislation, technology and threat ­environment. ASIO has already updated its internal policies to ­reflect the new guidelines.”

Seeking to overcome the 13-year gap between guidelines, the minister’s rules will now be ­reviewed every three years. It will be up to the ASIO director-general to ensure the inspector-general, an independent body that reviews the agency’s activities, has “effective access” to information held by ASIO.

Provisions overseeing ASIO’s collection of information in a “lawful, timely and efficient way” have also been expanded, with ­officers to consider the likely ­impact more intrusive techniques will have on individuals.

They must also consider whether the person has consented to the use of the technique and the sensitivity and volume of ­information being collected.

New sections have been added stating the opposition leader will be kept informed on security matters and the director-general will “take all reasonable steps” to ensure ASIO employees authorised to use force against a person under a warrant are appropriately trained.

“(This) does not limit the ­inherent right of an ASIO ­employee or ASIO affiliate to self-defence,” the guidelines state.

The document also confirms that ASIO, which aims to protect Australia from security threats such as espionage, terrorism and foreign interference, can access telecommunications data when collecting intelligence.

John Blaxland, who has written two volumes of The Official History of ASIO, said the guidelines were important not just for ASIO’s internal procedures but its messaging to Australians about the limits it set for itself and the standards the community should expect its officers would uphold.

“When the Home Affairs construct was first announced, my fear was too much power was being concentrated in too few hands,” said Professor Blaxland, from the Australian National University’s Strategic and ­Defence Studies Centre.

“This I see is an attempt to mitigate the risks of that by articulating a set of guidelines to demonstrate to the Australian people, and for internal purposes, the limits of their authority, due process that has to be followed and the checks and balances that this is not an agency to which power is going to its head.”

While ASIO is a federal body, Professor Blaxland noted Mr Dutton had specified that it must co-operate with and assist other agencies and authorities — such as state police — to reduce the ­potential harm to Australia’s ­national interest.

Mr Dutton has introduced several contentious bills affecting ASIO’s powers that have concerned lawyers, Labor and other political parties, including legislation that allows the agency to question children as young as 14 if they are suspected of terrorism.

In a foreword to the guidelines, Mr Dutton says Australians ­expect ASIO to act in pursuit of the public good and exercise its powers and use its resources ­judiciously.

“We expect ASIO ... will only collect and retain information related to or required for the proper performance of its statutory functions,” Mr Dutton says.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said it should not have taken the Coalition seven years to formulate new ASIO guidelines, which were “long overdue”.

Home Affairs has overseen ASIO since the department’s creation in 2017, with the attorney-general retaining responsibility for issuing warrants used by the agency.