The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (the ASIO Act) is an Act of the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

which replaced the ''Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1956'', which had established the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated vio ...

(ASIO) as a

statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

body. ASIO is the

counter-intelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

and

security agency A security agency is a governmental organization that conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a nation. They are the domestic cousins of foreign intelligence agencies, and typically conduct counterintelligence to thwart other ...

of Australia, which had been established in 1949 by Prime Minister Ben Chifley's

Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service On 16 March 1949, the Australian prime minister, Ben Chifley, issued a Directive for the Establishment and Maintenance of a Security Service, appointing South Australian Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Reed as the first Director-General of Security. ...

under the

executive power The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ba ...

of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, under the control of the

Director-General of Security The Director-General of Security is the executive officer of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Australia's national security agency. The Director-General, through ASIO, has overall responsibility for the protection of the ...

and responsible to the

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. After passage of the ''National Security Legislation Amendment Act 2014'' by the Australian Parliament, ASIO officers are exempt from prosecution for a wide range of illegal activities in the course of conducting "operations". ASIO officers may carry arms, and the Minister responsible has the ability under certain conditions to approve the provision of any weapon or training to any specified person, even outside of ASIO officers.

Director-General of Security

The ASIO Act maintains the office of Director-General of Security and places ASIO under the Director-General's control.

Officers of the organisation

Officers of ASIO are employed under the ASIO Act, and are classed as ''Officers of the Commonwealth'' for the purposes of the

Crimes Act 1914 The ''Crimes Act 1914'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia which addresses the most serious federal offences — that is, crimes against the Commonwealth. It was the first major federal criminal law since the Federation of Australi ...

, which among other provisions makes impersonating an ASIO officer a criminal offence.'ASIO agent' Heffernan makes some odd calls
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 24 June 2007 The ASIO Act also makes the identification of ASIO officers a criminal offence punishable by one year imprisonment.

Special investigative powers

The ASIO Act defines the special investigative powers available to ASIO under warrant signed by the Attorney-General: *interception of telecommunications, *examination of postal and delivery articles, *use of clandestine surveillance and tracking devices, *remote access to computers, including alteration of data to conceal that access, *covert entry to and search of premises, including the removal or copying of any record or thing found therein, and *conduct of an ordinary or frisk search of a person if they are at or near a premises specified in the warrant. The Director-General also has the power to independently issue a warrant in situations where a warrant has been requested of the Attorney-General but not yet granted, and a serious security situation arises.

Powers relating to investigation of terrorism

When investigating terrorism, the Director-General may also seek a warrant from an independent judicial authority to allow: *the compulsory questioning of suspects, *the detention of suspects by the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

, and their subsequent interrogation by ASIO officers, *ordinary, frisk or strip search of suspects by AFP officers upon their detainment, *the seizure of passports, and *the prevention of suspects leaving Australia. The Director-General is not empowered to independently issue a terrorism-related warrant. These terrorism-related powers were scheduled to be automatically repealed on 22 July 2016.

Offences

Criminal offences established under the ASIO Act include: * unauthorised communication of ASIO intelligence by an officer, employee or other person connected with ASIO - Penalty: 2 years' imprisonment, * failure by an operator of an aircraft or vessel to answer questions from or provide documents to an ASIO officer relating to cargo, crew, passengers, stores or voyage - Penalty: 60

penalty units A penalty unit (PU) is a standard amount of money used to compute penalties for many breaches of law in Australia at both the federal, and state and territory level. Fines are calculated by multiplying the value of a penalty unit by the number o ...

. * unauthorised publication of identity of officer, employee or agent of ASIO - Penalty: 1 year's imprisonment.

References

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Commonwealth)
{{reflist, 2 1979 in Australian law Australian intelligence agencies Acts of the Parliament of Australia