Parties clash on encryption law

Labor and the Coalition are locked in a fresh fight over new laws that give authorities greater access to terrorists’ messages.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus. Picture: AAP

Labor and the Coalition are locked in a fresh fight over new laws that give authorities greater access to terrorists’ messages sent via encrypted apps, with the opposition now saying they went too far.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus viciously attacked the laws, saying they did not have enough judicial oversight and were a “fiasco of lawmaking”.

Mr Dreyfus also said the opposition would refer them to a parliamentary committee to assess their economic impact on Australian technology companies.

Intelligence committee chairman, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, said the government was set to introduce its changes to the laws today, which would also hand state anti-corruption bodies access to the powers.

The intelligence committee is still reviewing the bills and accepting submissions from industry.

Six business groups, including the Australian Industry Group, called for the laws to be changed to include greater judicial oversight and to more clearly define “systemic weakness” in a joint submission.

Labor helped the government rush through the laws late last year, to the dismay of technology companies, on the proviso the government would amend them further this year.

While the Coalition will introduce some amendments into parliament today, Mr Dreyfus has argued they do not address Labor’s concerns and said the opposition would also introduce more amendments the party had devised.

“To make the legislation conform to the committee’s recommendations, we will be moving amendments to the (bill) when it is introduced into the Senate,” he told parliament yesterday.

The current laws say that authorities cannot force a technology company to change their devices if it introduces a “systemic weakness” that could be exploited by hackers.

Mr Dreyfus said the Labor amendment would seek to more clearly define “systemic weakness”.

Labor helped pass the laws after advice from security agencies.