Transcript

The Hon Bob Debus MP
Minister for Home Affairs

STREET INQUIRY

Doorstop Interview
Parliament House, ACT
13 March 2008

BOB DEBUS:

The Street review has delivered 10 recommendations that will improve the way that joint agency counter-terrorism investigations are managed in the future.

The Australian Federal Police has already implemented some of the recommendations and it's working to implement the remainder. For instance, by April it's expected that ASIO officers will be - [background noise] dear me, is that a problem for you?

Look, by April it's expected that ASIO officers will be attached to the Melbourne and Sydney joint counter-terrorism teams and that will ensure that there's better communication between the agencies at an operational level. By May the AFP will develop a new joint operations protocol with ASIO and there'll be guidelines drafted on the role of the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions in counter-terrorism investigations. There are a number of other recommendations to be implemented, all of them going to the question of improving the cooperation between agencies during joint counter-terrorism operations. This is an entirely sensible approach which we expect, of course, will mean that into the future our counter-terrorism operations will continue to improve.

QUESTION:

How confident are you that mistakes won't happen again?

BOB DEBUS:

What I'm confident of is that these recommendations will ensure that the various agencies, the police and security agencies that are responsible for counter-terrorism will continue to improve the way they operate together.

QUESTION:

What exactly are you going to be taking responsibility for?

BOB DEBUS:

The portfolio of Home Affairs is directly responsible for a number of the functions within the Attorney-General's Department, for the AFP, for Customs, for Territories. So I have direct responsibility for the AFP which is, in turn, obviously one of the key agencies that have been the subject of the Street inquiry.

QUESTION:

The intelligence agencies will still [indistinct].

BOB DEBUS:

The intelligence agencies still reside with the AG or the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

QUESTION:

Do you think a review of counter-terror laws is needed?

BOB DEBUS:

Well, the question of the counter-terror laws themselves is a question for my colleague, the Attorney-General who will also very soon, later today, be addressing the inquiry specifically into the Haneef matter.

QUESTION:

But do you know the Government's position on changes to counter-terror laws?

BOB DEBUS:

As reported recently in the media, the Attorney-General has those matters under consideration but, obviously, I cannot comment on them or, for the present, know what's in his mind.

QUESTION:

Do you think it's the best split between the portfolios that we have now? I mean, you're dealing with the AFP which takes a lead role in counter-terrorism and yet you're referring counter-terrorism inquiries to the Attorney-General. Don't you think we'd be better off having one minister in charge of all counter-terrorism?

BOB DEBUS:

We have a portfolio of the Attorney-General which includes the Minister, called the Attorney-General, and the Minister, called the Minister for Home Affairs. It's really a perfectly sensible arrangement and we, within that portfolio, divide many responsibilities between us.

Obviously there are a considerable range of agencies - police and security agencies as well as prosecutorial bodies that are, however you happen to divide up ministerial responsibility, all of necessity joined together in big police and terrorism, counter-terrorism investigations. That's the way the world is and we have to make sure that we do all we can to max - to make sure that those various agencies work together.

I've noticed that Tony Abbott has said that this inquiry is in some measure not needed and that's a particularly ridiculous position to take. We can never - I assert never, relax our vigilance in national security matters. We need always to be looking for ways in which we can ensure that that that job is done best by all of the agencies responsible.

To suggest that the inquiry wasn't necessary seems to me to be really the height of absurdity, compounded by the fact that several other Opposition members have apparently made remarks that contradict Tony Abbott's.

QUESTION:

The Street inquiry is likely to again reignite calls for Commissioner Keelty to go. Does he retain your full support?

BOB DEBUS:

Commissioner Keelty himself commissioned the Street inquiry. I understand him to be very happy with its outcome and certainly he has my complete confidence.

QUESTION:

How concerning are the findings and recommendations?

BOB DEBUS:

The point about the Street inquiry is that it has shown ways how, in detail, the various police and intelligence and security agencies can work together better. There's nothing mysterious about that. These are good administrative suggestions to improve the way those agencies operate together.

QUESTION:

On the Haneef inquiry, should witnesses be compelled to give evidence?

BOB DEBUS:

Well, if you mean should members of Parliament give evidence to the Haneef inquiry, well, I'd say of course they should.

QUESTION:

So Kevin Andrews should front up?

BOB DEBUS:

Yes. Kevin Andrews should front up.

QUESTION:

Does the Street inquiry have any bearing on the Haneef inquiry?

BOB DEBUS:

Not in any specific sense. The Street inquiry is of an administrative nature and makes recommendations that - that go to general procedures and methods for improving cooperation between the agencies involved. Haneef is more focused on a specific incident.

QUESTION:

Are you involved - have you been involved in the Haneef inquiry?

BOB DEBUS:

No. No.

QUESTION:

I just wonder if, you know, the Cornelia Rau case and other cases, sort of became quite notorious under the last Government, do you think this is something that will prevent those sorts of cases?

BOB DEBUS:

It's certainly true that the better we coordinate missing persons reports around the country, the more successfully we are able to encourage those who find that a family member is missing to report it, then to that degree we are less likely to have events like the Cornelia Rau matter. It's obvious that the Cornelia Rau matter was tremendously complicated by the failure of a whole lot of different state and federal agencies to be able to talk to one another about a particular missing person. We're trying to overcome that problem.