Staffing levels at Australia’s peak intelligence oversight body are regressing, impeding its ability to ensure that national security agencies operate as intended within our democratic framework of institutions and laws. Without enough people, the organisation, …
Last week, the government reaffirmed that the executive decides when Australia goes to war. The government also outlined plans to strengthen oversight mechanisms, including through a new joint statutory committee on defence (JSCD) and a …
Reports have emerged of a rare stoush over the usually cordially bipartisan Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS). The source of the fracas is the Labor government’s proposal to expand the committee from …
In my last post, I explained the need for dual lines of responsibility for nuclear safety, with civilian authorities answerable to a minister other than the minister for defence to provide a degree of independence …
The 1,300-page unclassified version of the review of the legal framework of Australia’s national intelligence community (NIC), delivered to the government in December 2019 and released a year later, offered 203 recommendations for reform. Thirteen …
