Intelligence services review won't go into accountability and transparency either

BBC series

Accountability and transparency issues don't feature in the terms of reference for the independent review of Australia's intelligence services to be conducted by Robert Cornall, former head of the Attorney General's Department, and Associate Professor Rufus Black announced by the Prime Minister just before Christmas. Unless it could be worked into examination of "arrangements and practices within the intelligence community for collaborative work, including legislative arrangements." Seems a stretch.

Appropriate protection of sensitive information about intelligence services is necessary and important. Blanket secrecy goes too far.

The Government indicated at the time FOI reform was before the Parliament last year that a review two years after the commencement of the reforms "will also need to include a consideration of whether the exclusion of agencies, including intelligence agencies, from the application of the Act is still appropriate and necessary. Naturally, such a consideration would require reference to international practice and consideration of what is in the Australian public’s interest."

The current review would have provided a better context to at least make a start on this, as it is to make international comparisons with the operations of intelligence agencies in other respects (the US and New Zealand haven't found blanket exclusions from information access laws necessary), and would have ensured more timely consideration of this hole in our transparency framework.

The aim of the review is to address these six issues:

1. how well the intelligence community is positioned to support Australia’s national interests, now and into the future;
2. development of the intelligence community over the last decade, including implementation of intelligence-related reforms;
3. working arrangements and relationships between the intelligence agencies and policy and operational areas of government;
4. working arrangements and relationships between the intelligence agencies and their international partners;
5. arrangements and practices within the intelligence community for collaborative work, including legislative arrangements; and
6. level of resourcing dedicated to the intelligence community and apportionment of resources across the community, noting that any future proposals would need to be offset consistent with the Government’s overall fiscal strategy.