The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) could be called upon to provide security assessments for telecommunications companies, which could then be used by the attorney general to justify restrictions on their operations.
The federal government plans to introduce new laws that could enhance the powers of the attorney general to order the companies to take action when there is a risk of unauthorised interference with their network.
This will enhance the government’s powers to curb or modify their activities.
A first exposure draft this year was criticised by the industry. Following feedback, a second was released on Friday, with additional provisions that require Asio to provide a security assessment before the attorney general can act.
An amendment was also made that requires the attorney general to decide on restricting access, rather than allowing delegation to other officers.
The explanatory memorandum of the revised bill said: “The adverse security assessment triggering the use of the directions power will be issued by Asio ... and will set out in writing Asio’s advice in respect to the exercise of the directions power by the attorney general.”
John Stanton, the chief executive officer of the Communication Alliance, which represents the Australian communications industry, said the proposal had increased some checks and balances over the use of the powers.
However, it will still give the attorney general broad powers to force telecommunications companies and carriage providers to modify services – and potentially cut them off entirely – in a range of circumstances.
Stanton said the group’s members were still working through the detail of the bill and had not finalised a formal response.
“We put a range of concerns to government back in August and quite a number of those have been reflected in the amendments. The revised bill certainly appears to be an improvement on the original one, but that’s a pretty low bar,” he said.
The information-gathering powers under the bill had also been amended to enhance confidentiality, and Stanton said that was a positive move.
The Greens senator Scott Ludlam welcomed the consultation process with this bill, and said it was a marked difference from the approach taken by the government with data retention laws and other national security legislation that had been quickly pushed through.
However, he said the powers under the bill were “still quite intrusive” and would need further examination.
“What appears to have happened between draft one and draft two is that some of the rough edges have been smoothed out,” he said.
“We’ve still got real concerns with the second draft of the bill. With a government so intent on reducing red tape, the telecommunications sector broadly seems to have been quarantined from that intent.”
A section already exists under the Telecommunications Act that allows the government to potentially shut off providers where they might “prejudice national security”.
The new provision has been inserted, according to the explanatory memorandum of the bill, to “address a security risk where the circumstances do not require the complete shutdown of the service”.
The government is accepting submissions for the second draft exposure until January 2016.
