The Commonwealth Ombudsman has reported on his inspection of the compliance of Government Agencies’ using surveillance devices between 1 July and 31 December last year, finding instances in which the devices were used without meeting the Act’s requirements and/or obtaining the proper authority.
In his report to the Minister for Home Affairs, the Ombudsman, Michael Manthorpe said his Office inspected the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Australian Federal Police (AFP), NSW Police Force, South Australia Police and Victoria Police.
Mr Manthorpe said the Act permitted the Agencies to covertly use surveillance devices when investigating certain offences.
He said that as Ombudsman he provided independent oversight by regularly inspecting the records of the Agencies exercising the powers.
“At these inspections, we assess whether the Agency was compliant with the Act during the inspection period and had processes in place to support compliance,” Mr Manthorpe said.
“We also consider the Agency’s transparency and accountability, and encourage it to disclose systemic problems or instances of non-compliance to our Office.”
He said that if previous inspections had identified problems, he reviewed any actions taken to address them.
“The most significant issues identified during the inspection period related to using and retrieving surveillance devices without meeting the Act’s requirements and/or obtaining the proper authority,” the Ombudsman said.
“We also identified a number of reporting errors and information management issues.”
He said however that inspectors found the Agencies generally responsive to the Office’s findings and implemented appropriate remedial action.
“Noting that we only inspected a small number of warrants at each Agency, we did not identify any compliance issues arising from the ACIC’s and AFP’s initial use of these powers,” the Ombudsman said.
His 25-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
