Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018
The submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security’s (PJCIS) inquiry into the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 was prepared by the Law Council.
The Law Council acknowledges that there is significant value to public safety in allowing law enforcement and national security agencies faster access to encrypted information where there are threats to national security or in order to prevent the commission of serious criminal offences.
The Law Council also acknowledges that there is merit in facilitating prompt international cooperation and assistance to deal with serious crimes which occur across multiple jurisdictions.
A principal objective of the Bill is to increase public safety by providing faster access to encrypted data. The Law Council’s comments endeavour to balance achievement of that objective with the need to ensure:
(a) that the proposed measures are reasonable, necessary and proportionate, including by incorporating reasonably transparent and verifiably reliable safeguards and controls; and
(b) legislative clarity and certainty, particularly given the diverse range of agencies that may utilise these powers and the significant expansion in the range and nature of entities that will be subject to complex law enforcement and intelligence legislation for the first time.
You can read the full submission below.
Last Updated on 18/10/2018