Now lawDefence & Security Introduced in the House of Representatives, 23 Jul 2025

ASIO questioning powers are now permanent and wider

Australia's domestic spy agency can force people to answer its questions. This law takes away the end date on that power. It adds new threats to the list and changes who can watch over the questions.

Official name: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025

Who it affects

• Adults the spy agency thinks know about threats to the country: They can now be made to answer questions about more kinds of threats, and the power has no end date.
• People already charged with a linked crime: They can only be questioned in front of a former judge.
• Retired judges and senior lawyers: New rules say who can watch over the questions and when they must be sacked.
• The Attorney-General: This is the minister for the law, who must now be told when anyone broke the rules during the questions.

Questioning powers since 2003

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's domestic spy agency. We will call it the spy agency. Since 2003 it has been able to make people come in and answer its questions.

To do this it needs a warrant. That is a legal order that forces the person to turn up and talk. The power began after the terror attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001.

The Attorney-General is the minister for the law. This minister says yes or no to each warrant. The questions are asked in front of a referee. The law calls this person a prescribed authority.

The referee is a former judge, a senior lawyer or a top member of the Administrative Review Tribunal. That is a body that reviews government decisions, like a court but less formal. Their job is to watch over the questions and protect the person's rights.

The power always had an end date built into the law. Parliament pushed that date back five times. A separate law in 2025 moved the latest end date from September 2025 to March 2027. That gave Parliament time to debate this bill.

Powers made permanent

This law takes the end date out of the spy agency's main law. The end date was in section 34JF of that law. The power will now stay unless Parliament votes to scrap it.

The government says the spy agency has used the power with care for over 20 years. It says the power has helped get very useful secret information. It says MPs have reviewed it five times, and outside experts twice.

In place of an end date, a group of MPs and senators can look at the power again. This group is the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. It must start that review within three years of this law starting.

More threats covered

Until now, adults could only be questioned about three kinds of threat. These were spying, violence for political reasons, and foreign meddling in our affairs. This law adds four more.

The new ones are sabotage and stirring up violence between groups in the community. The others are attacks on Australia's defence system, and serious threats to Australia's land and borders.

Say the spy agency thinks a person knows about a plan to damage a power station. Before this law, it might not have been able to make them talk. The plan may not have fit the old list. Now sabotage is on the list.

The rules for children aged 14 to 17 did not change in this part. The new threats apply only when adults are questioned.

Who supervises questioning

This law bans more people from being the referee. The government says these people may take sides.

The banned list now includes members of the Defence Force, which is Australia's military. It also includes public servants, who are the people who work for government. Heads of government agencies are banned as well. Members of any Australian parliament and their staff are banned too.

So are the top lawyers who run court cases for the government. So are the top lawyers who advise each government. So are the people who question witnesses for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, an agency that gathers secret information on crime.

The Attorney-General may sack a referee for bad behaviour, or if they cannot do the job. The Attorney-General must sack a referee who goes bankrupt or may take sides.

A referee must also be sacked if they no longer meet the rules for the job. The same goes if they do not tell the minister about their own interests. These rules apply to referees picked after the law starts.

Reporting rule breaks

The head of the spy agency already writes a report to the Attorney-General after each warrant. Now that report must list anything that broke the rules.

That includes breaking the minister's guidelines or the written steps for questioning. It also covers breaking the warrant itself, or ignoring an order from the referee.

The Law Council of Australia is a group that speaks for lawyers. It had worried that there was no rule in the law forcing anyone to report when rules were broken.

More protection for charged people

Sometimes the spy agency questions a person who has been charged with a linked crime. Sometimes the person is about to be charged. Questions at that stage could harm their chance of a fair trial.

Under this law, those people can only be questioned in front of a referee who was a judge of a higher court. A higher court is one such as a state Supreme Court or the Federal Court, a national court that hears many government cases.

The same rule applies when they must hand over papers or things. A referee can also pass a person on to a different referee for more questions. That way a former judge can take over.

Start date

The bill was brought into the House of Representatives, Parliament's main house, on 23 July 2025. It passed there on 12 February 2026. The Senate, Parliament's second house, debated it in May and August 2026.

The Senate passed it on 20 August 2026 with 3 changes from the government. The House agreed the same day. This article explains the bill as it first was, because the sources do not explain those changes.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 26 August 2026. It became Act No. 81 of 2026. It started the next day.

Most changes only apply to warrants or referees from after that date.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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