July 30, 2024
Since Anthony Albanese's reshuffle, there has been a lot of conjecture about the consequences of moving the nation's domestic spy agency, ASIO, back to the Attorney-General’s Department.
But what has attracted less commentary are the consequences of the new Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, retaining responsibility for counter-terrorism, counter-espionage and counter-foreign interference — despite having no operational agency in that space.
The revised Administrative Arrangements Order (AAO) doesn’t transfer responsibility for national security policy and operations to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, leaving Burke with the ministerial responsibility.
Justin Bassi, who was former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s national security advisor when Home Affairs was created, tells Capital Brief the move is a “little confusing, as it seems to have left Home Affairs as a policy portfolio without any agencies other than Border Force and the National Emergency Management Agency”.
“It has also seemingly been stripped of operational responsibilities, which have been given to the first law officer,” says Bassi, now executive-director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“There is still much to do in the Home Affairs portfolio from immigration and border protection to cybersecurity policy, but the removal now of almost all agencies may suggest a pathway to the future dismantling of the Home Affairs Department.”
The opposition’s home affairs spokesman James Paterson says it as “utterly illogical” to move all the operational agencies for national security to the AG’s portfolio but leave Burke responsible for the policy outcomes.
“Tony Burke has literally no operational levers to deliver on foreign interference, espionage or terrorism, because Mark Dreyfus has taken them all. If the attorney-general wants the agencies he should accept the policy accountability that comes with it,” Paterson tells Capital Brief.
Burke told ABC Radio National on Tuesday morning that it's "logical" to have ASIO and the AFP in the same portfolio — though it was Albanese who separated them in 2022 by moving the AFP under Dreyfus’ remit.
“I don't think [Paterson] understands how ASIO works … [it’s] an agency that is constantly briefing other agencies,” Burke says.
There is also concern that the changes return to the pre-2017 position of having the same minister — Dreyfus — responsible for ASIO’s day-to-day operations and signing off on its warrants.
Bassi described the situation as putting “pressure on the AG to wear two hats” and that the move was unneccessary.
“The need to act first as the security minister to get across the threats, and then switch hats to apply the law, is a compartmentalisation that is challenging to do in practice," he says. "This was a key reason for having the security and legal functions separated to ensure there wasn’t a poacher-gamekeeper situation with the same minister reviewing their own work.”
Former ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson told the ABC on Monday these concerns are overblown, saying ministers who signed warrants were “effectively involved in decisions relating to operations” anyway.
Given the sweeping nature of the changes, another flew under the radar: three new special envoy roles handed out to backbench MPs Peter Khalil, Andrew Charlton and Luke Gosling.
Special envoys are widely viewed as a way of mollifying backbenchers who have missed out on promotion.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison gave them to two potentially destabilising figures in caucus — his predecessor Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce, who had just lost the Nationals leadership. Joyce wracked up over $600,000 worth of expenses in nine months as special drought envoy and submitted reports to Morrison via text message.
But there may be a secondary motivation for Albanese so close to the election; it seems no coincidence that all three envoys are facing stiff challenges to hold their seats and could do with a profile boost.
We’ve reported that Khalil in particular is struggling to hold off a push from the Greens in the Melbourne seat of Wills, partly driven by angst at the government’s stance on Gaza. He’s been appointed special envoy on social cohesion, something the government says is its prime motivation on the conflict.
The headline decision was announced before the details were worked out.
One source told Capital Brief that Charlton — the new special envoy for cyber security and digital resilience — will be given two additional staff members.
But the Prime Minister’s Office and his department didn’t respond when asked whether the other envoys’ offices would also be expanded. It remains unclear how much money will be allocated to the roles, which is a decision for Albanese.
