Senator KEMP (Minister for the Arts and Sport) (4:39 PM) —Let me just make a couple of points. We do not believe judicial review under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act is appropriate for decisions made on national security grounds. The provisions in the bill are consistent with existing policy that decisions made on grounds of security or which have security implications are excluded from judicial review under the AD(JR) Act. For example, decisions under the following acts are currently exempt: the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, the Intelligences Services Act 2001 and the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975.

The AD(JR) Act provides a streamlined and expedited form of judicial review that is not designed to deal effectively with the review of sensitive material. The Security Appeals Division of the AAT provides a more appropriate mechanism for review of decisions based on security matters. The AAT Act contains a range of specific mechanisms to quarantine and effectively protect security-sensitive information. The amendments contained in the bill ensure that security assessments forming the basis of a direction will be reviewable on their merits by the AAT. As I said, we will not be supporting the amendment moved by the Democrats. We note some wavering on the Labor Party's position, as stated by Senator Mark Bishop. On balance, Senator Bishop, you came down on the wrong side.

Question negatived.