The Commonwealth Ombudsman, Mr Michael Manthorpe, acknowledges the AFP’s announcement today of compliance issues it has identified affecting ACT Policing’s handling of requests for certain types of telecommunications data.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman is responsible for inspecting, and reporting on agencies’ access to telecommunications data under Chapter 4 of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (the TIA Act). This oversight aims to provide assurance to the public and the Parliament that law enforcement agencies’ use of those powers accords with the requirements of the legislation. However, the records in question were not included in data the AFP provided to the Ombudsman, which means they have not been made available for his staff to inspect.

The Ombudsman welcomes the fact that the AFP has itself disclosed its failure to meet the requirements of the TIA Act, and the announced independent audit to scrutinise the instances of non-compliance. However, the issue is of serious concern, given the covert and intrusive nature of these powers and the duration and potential scale of the non-compliance that has been identified.

The Ombudsman has made suggestions to the AFP about the scope of the audit, in particular to ensure that it comprehensively examines the extent to which specific legislative provisions in force at the relevant times were breached, and their implications.

Mr Manthorpe has written to Commissioner Kershaw to advise that he has commenced an investigation of the AFP’s handling of, and response to the identified problems. The investigation will be carried out under the own motion provisions of the Ombudsman Act 1976 and will be informed, in part, by the independent audit the AFP has commissioned. The Ombudsman anticipates issuing a public report about his investigation in due course.

Contact: media@ombudsman.gov.au