Australian Financial Review http://www.afr.com.au/content/990413/news/news5.html April 13, 1999 Fresh attack on ASIO access to records By Geoffrey Barker Federal Government plans to allow the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to access financial transaction information came under fire from two key civil rights groups yesterday. The Victorian Council for Civil Liberties said ASIO should not have access to the database maintained by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) unless it could "be restricted to cases where the agency is investigating a particular, suspected or anticipated crime". Sydney's Financial Services Consumer Policy Centre said ASIO could access the AUSTRAC data base through the Australian Federal Police if it needed specific information for specific purposes. Both groups expressed concerns that ASIO would use the database for general information-gathering "fishing expeditions". Amendments to the 1988 Financial Transaction Report Act now before Federal Parliament would give ASIO access to AUSTRAC data for the first time. At the moment, access is limited to taxation, Federal Police, National Crime Authority and customs officers. Other amendments before Parliament would give ASIO access to taxation department data. Melbourne barrister Mr Michael Pearce, a VCCL board member who sits on the AUSTRAC privacy consultative committee, said no serious attempt had been made to address concerns raised by the VCCL. He said the VCCL had told AUSTRAC that there were indications ASIO intended to use AUSTRAC data for general intelligence purposes, rather than in connection with specific crimes or suspected crimes. "This is consistent with the agency's statutory functions but, in the VCCL's view, is not consistent with the objects of the Financial Transaction Reports Act," he said. The director of the Financial Services Consumer Centre, Mr Chris Connolly, said the Financial Transaction Reports Act was passed to crack down on money laundering and aspects of tax evasion. He said if access to the database became wider it would be harder for civil liberties and privacy groups to support the Act. "My view is that ASIO is just running out of work. It does not have as much importance as it once had and it sees the AUSTRAC data base as a potential source of information which it might use for further fishing expeditions," Mr Connolly said. c This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
