Commonwealth Numbered Acts

AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT ACT 1999 NO. 161, 1999 - SCHEDULE 4

1 At the end of Part IV

Add:

27AA Access by ASIO to FTR information

(1)

Despite anything in section 25, the Director may, in writing, authorise ASIO (see subsection (8)) to have access to FTR information for the purpose of performing its functions.

(2)

An authorisation under subsection (1) must state the FTR information, or the class of FTR information, to which ASIO is to have access.

(3)

If ASIO is authorised under subsection (1) to have access to FTR information, any ASIO officer (see subsection (8)) authorised by the Director-General of Security (see subsection (8)) is entitled to access to that FTR information in accordance with the authorisation.

(4)

If a person who is an ASIO officer obtains FTR information under this section:

(a)

the person must not, while he or she is an ASIO officer, divulge or communicate the information except to:

(i)

a police officer (see subsection (8)) for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of that officer's duties; or

(ii)

an IGIS officer (see subsection (8)) for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of that officer's duties in relation to ASIO or employees of ASIO; or

(iii)

another ASIO officer for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of that officer's duties; and

(b)

the person must not, when he or she is no longer an ASIO officer, make a record of the information, or divulge or communicate the information, in any circumstances.

(5)

If a person who is an IGIS officer obtains FTR information under this section:

(a)

the person must not, while he or she is an IGIS officer, divulge or communicate the information except:

(i)

to another IGIS officer for the purposes of, or in connection with, the performance of that officer's duties in relation to ASIO or employees of ASIO; or

(ii)

to the Director-General of Security in a draft report under section 21 of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986 (the IGIS Act ) in relation to ASIO or employees of ASIO; or

(iii)

in a manner that does not identify, and is not reasonably capable of being used to identify, a person to whom the information relates, in a report under section 22, or a written response to a complainant under section 23, of the IGIS Act in relation to ASIO or employees of ASIO; or

(iv)

to the Director-General of Security in a report, in relation to ASIO or employees of ASIO, under section 25A of the IGIS Act; or

(v)

in a manner that does not identify, and is not reasonably capable of being used to identify, a person to whom the information relates, in a report to the responsible Minister, in relation to ASIO or employees of ASIO, under section 25A of the IGIS Act; and

(b)

the person must not, when he or she is no longer an IGIS officer, make a record of the information, or divulge or communicate the information, in any circumstances.

(6)

A person who is or has been an ASIO officer or IGIS officer and who obtained FTR information under this section must not be required:

(a)

to produce in a court any document containing FTR information; or

(b)

to divulge or communicate to any court any FTR information.

(7)

If a person who is or has been an ASIO officer or an IGIS officer makes a record of, or divulges or communicates, information in contravention of this section, the person is guilty of an offence against this section punishable, upon conviction, by imprisonment for not more than 2 years.

Note 1: Subsection 4B(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 allows a court to impose in respect of an offence an appropriate fine instead of, or in addition to, a term of imprisonment. The maximum fine that a court can impose on an individual is worked out by multiplying the maximum term of imprisonment (in months) by 5, and then multiplying the resulting number by the amount of a penalty unit. The amount of a penalty unit is stated in section 4AA.

Note 2: Subsections 27(6) to (13) deal with the use by a police officer of FTR information obtained from ASIO.

(8)

In this section: