Mr Mike Burgess, Director-General of Security
23 June 2023
I welcome the passage of the ASIO Amendment Bill 2023. This is a significant step towards uplifting Australia’s highest-level of security clearance. The reforms will modernise, harmonise and strengthen Australia’s security vetting capability.
It is imperative Australia protects its most sensitive secrets when ASIO is seeing more people being targeted for espionage and foreign interference than at any time in our history.
Centralising Australia’s highest-level vetting functions within ASIO leverages our capabilities and holdings to best assess whether an individual is, and remains, suitable to hold privileged access.
A consistent approach to issuing and maintaining the highest-level security clearances will improve the mobility of Australia’s highest cleared workforce in a complex, challenging and changing security environment.
This is a great example of the national intelligence community working together to share resources, remove duplication and improve collective outcomes. I am proud of ASIO’s role in strengthening Australia’s security clearance vetting capability, and thank the staff and agencies involved in developing and progressing this reform.