By Staff Writer.
The Department of Home Affairs has confirmed law enforcement agencies have successfully obtained warrants three times following the passing of the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act (SLAID Act) last year.
At an October 2021 Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs hearing, Senator Kristina Keneally queried the status of three warrants not yet fully activated.
“I’ve now had two agencies tell me they’re waiting on administrative arrangements through the Attorney-General’s office to finalise those warrants,” Senator Keneally said.
After taking the question on notice, Home Affairs recently said agencies obtained the warrants late in 2021.
“The Department of Home Affairs and the Attorney-General’s Department have been working through a number of administrative steps to ensure that issuing authorities are able to issue the new warrants under the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021 (SLAID Act), including obtaining consent from judges and Administrative Appeals Tribunal members,” Home Affairs said.
“These processes are now finalised, and there are issuing authorities available to issue data disruption, network activity and account takeover warrants.
“As of December 2021, agencies have obtained warrants under the new powers introduced by the SLAID Act.”
The Australian Senate passed the SLAID Act in late August 2021 after a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) review and negotiations with independents and minor parties.
The legislation gave the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) significant new powers to tackle serious crime.
Under the SLAID Act, the two agencies can apply for three new types of warrants. The data disruption warrant enables the agencies to access data on computers and perform disruption activities to frustrate criminal activity.
The network activity warrant allows the two agencies to collect intelligence on criminal networks operating online. An account takeover warrant allows AFP and the ACIC to take over a person’s online account to gather evidence of criminal activity.
In their answer, Home Affairs did not say what type of warrants were obtained, which agency had obtained them, and whether the warrants had been executed.
The Government had to make some 60 amendments to the original legislation to get the SLAID Act passed in August. The PJCIS made 33 recommendations, 23 of which the Government accepted.
Labor supported the amended legislation, with shadow home affairs minister Kristina Keneally saying the new legislation significantly curtailed possible overreach opportunities by the agencies.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the SLAID Act is needed and will significantly boost the capacity of both law enforcement agencies to identify and disrupt serious online criminal activity.
Minister Andrews has dismissed concerns of possible abuse of the new legalisation by either the AFP or ACIC, saying;
“The powers will be overseen by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security to ensure agency use of the powers is appropriate and will be subject to review by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS).”
