Peter Khalil to take reins of intelligence and security committee

Labor MP Peter Khalil is set to be announced as the chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee.

Labor MP Peter Khalil. Picture: AAP

Labor MP Peter Khalil is set to be announced as the chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, taking over the national security oversight role held in the last government by Liberals James Paterson and Andrew Hastie.

The member for Wills, in Melbourne's inner north, will be joined on the committee by Queensland LNP member Andrew Wallace, who will take the deputy chairmanship.

Anthony Albanese was yet to announce Mr Khalil’s appointment on Thursday, but his chairmanship was confirmed internally, and backed by MPs on both sides of the parliament.

Mr Khalil, 49, is the son of Coptic Christian parents who migrated to Australia from Egypt in 1970. He was national security adviser to former prime minister Kevin Rudd, served as national security policy director for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, and is a former Defence and Department of Foreign Affairs adviser on Iraq.

Mr Khalil was awarded the Australian Overseas Humanitarian Services medal in 2004, is a former visiting fellow with the Brookings Institution in the US, and a former adjunct professor in international security at the University of Sydney.

The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security plays a key role in parliament, reviewing and improving national security legislation, engaging with intelligence agencies, and dealing with the national security committee of cabinet on new policy proposals.

The 11-member committee must, under legislation, include six government members, at least six senators, and five House of Representatives members. It typically operates through consensus, with political disagreements being thrashed out behind closed doors before the publication of bipartisan reports.