Labor accused of playing ‘games’ with national security by delaying encryption bill

Scott Morrison is accusing Labor of delaying encryption bills in order to “play games in the parliament with national security.”

Scott Morrison is accusing Labor of delaying encryption bills in order to “play games in the parliament with national security.” Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has launched a major attack on Labor, claiming they were delaying the passage of a key national security law by allowing its MPs to speak in parliament on bill that the opposition has already agreed to pass.

Labor has insisted on introducing further amendments to the bill on the last sitting day as the government races to pass the laws and avoid a damaging vote on offshore detention.

The laws give national security agencies better access to encrypted messages and devices in order to avoid terrorist attacks.

But technology companies and experts have major concerns about the laws and say they may undermine encryption used to secure data.

The Prime Minister argued that the Labor Party was not helping to pass encryption legislation in the House.

“The Labor Party is not co-operating to pass important encryption legislation that would ensure that police, ASIO, other agencies, they won’t have the powers to access encrypted messages which can help them thwart a terrorist attack,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“They are delaying the passage of those bills to play games in the parliament with national security.”

Labor sources have rejected this, saying there was no reason it would not be passed today, and Labor Leader Bill Shorten in turn accused Mr Morrison of playing politics.

“I’ve co-operated with three different Liberal Prime Ministers over the last five years to improve, amend and pass 15 sets of national security legislation,” Mr Shorten said.

“That important work is continuing in the parliament today.”

While the government is arguing that Labor is introducing further amendments for tactical reasons, the opposition say further changes are needed in order for the bill to properly reflect the recommendations of a bipartisan report on the legislation released last night.

While the encryption bill has passed the house, Labor will introduce the amendments in the Senate so that it will have to go back to the House of Representatives in order to pass - extending the time taken to deal with the laws today.

Labor also say they only recieved the agreed final amendments to the bill at 6.30am this morning and the government had gone back on agreement about how to introduce the laws in parliament.

Attorney General Christian Porter told the house that this was a tactic by Labor to play parliamentary games on “another matter of national security.”

When the bill was introduced to the house, some Labor MPs raised concerns about the bill and suggested they would want it changed in office.

Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus discussed the laws this morning — laying out its flaws and evidence against it — but said the opposition had agreed to pass it with amendments to address some of these issues.

Labor MPs Ed Husic, Tim Watts, and Julian Hill also spoke on the bill — which the Labor leadership have allowed enev though they could have just had two speakers which would have sped up the process.

Labor MP Ed Husic. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor’s Ed Husic spoke out against a proposal Labor has agreed to, which is to have a retired judge decide technical capability requests.

He said instead such requests should be reviewed by a specialist judge. “I personally have deep reservations about it,” he said.

Mr Hill said it might need more changes in the future.

Labor MP Mike Kelly, who has served in the military demanded Energy Minister Angus Taylor apologise for saying Labor was protecting terrorists by wanting to amend encryption bill.

He said the remarks were “extreme and grossly offensive”.

“I’ve washed the blood of friends from my uniform, and I won’t be told by a member of this House that I am running a protection racket for terrorists.”