An independent audit has been commissioned by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) into requests made by ACT Policing to telecommunications carriers under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979.
In a statement the AFP said it had commissioned the audit, to be conducted by an accounting company, after identifying ‘compliance issues’ dating back to 2007.
“The identified issues relate to record-keeping, authorisations and reporting of requests under Section 180(2) of the Act,” the AFP said.
It said it self-reported the practice to the Commonwealth Ombudsman in January of this year after undertaking an examination of historic documents and records to estimate the extent of the compliance issues.
“It was identified that the requests were made by ACT Policing and related to the potential identification of a mobile device location during an investigation,” the AFP said.
It said the records and applications were not included in submissions by the AFP for annual reporting to the Minister for Home Affairs.
“This resulted in the AFP not discharging their reporting obligations in respect to these requests, nor presenting requests for Ombudsman inspection.”
The AFP said it had since identified and taken corrective action to ensure legislative compliance, including appropriate recording, authorisation and future reporting.
“The AFP has worked with the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office to establish this agreed method of assurance through audit and inspection by PwC Australia,” it said.
The independent audit is expected to be completed by June 2020.
The AFP said it understood the Commonwealth Ombudsman also intended to conduct an own-motion investigation into the matter.
