The fallout from the robodebt royal commission dominated the news, but I still managed to find a handful of interesting items. Two of them involve the spooks.
Here’s what I’ve noticed since the previous edition on 7 July.
First, two items that came in very late last Friday night, after I’d posted:
- The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security is running its review of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Prohibited Hate Symbols and Other Measures) Bill 2023. Submissions close 21 July, just one week away.
- The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee has kicked off its inquiry into Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s Murdoch Media Inquiry Bill 2023. Submissions close 31 August, and the committee is due to report by 12 December.
And this week, apart from all the fallout from the robodebt royal commission, which I’m sure you can find for yourself:
- TikTok data gathering behind federal ban, says ASD. “Officials from the Australian Signals Directorate have told a parliamentary inquiry into foreign interference through social media the app could form a picture of information about those with profiles on the platform,” reports The Mandarin. But then this is true for every social network, as well as pretty much every other app.
- And finally, a magical mistake: ASIO accidentally outs rejected spooks in group email BCC stuff-up.
Please let me know if I’ve missed anything, or if there’s any specific items you’d like me to follow. Parliament is currently on its winter break, scheduled to return on Monday 31 July, so the next edition will appear when there’s enough to make it worthwhile.
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[Photo: Senator James Paterson, a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and its chair under the previous Coalition government.]