A joint parliamentary committee has recommended a bill making the the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation responsible for the country's highest-level clearances be passed by the Parliament.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill 2023 would make ASIO the key agency for granting the TOP SECRET-Privileged Access (TS-PA) clearance for a range of government departments and agencies, beyond its own staff.
Those clearances are currently managed by the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency within the Department of Defence.
The bill would also introduce a Quality Assurance Office within the Office of National Intelligence to independently review the quality, consistency, and transferability of the highest-level of security clearances.
The Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, chaired by Labor MP Peter Khalil, recommended the bill be passed by the Parliament after one change was implemented.
The committee was concerned by an aspect of the legislation which would allow the Director-General to delegate security clearance-related functions to ASIO affiliates.
The report noted this could mean human sources or agents assisting ASIO under arrangements other than formal contracts could be allowed to have security clearance-related functions transferred to them. ASIO told the committee this would not occur.
The committee recommended the bill's Explanatory Memorandum be updated to specify "human sources or agents will not be used to undertake security vetting".
The bill would "uplift and harden Australia's highest-level of security clearance in response to the unprecedented threat from espionage and foreign interference", the report stated.
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