Instead, agencies gain new powers to issue notices for companies to render assistance, or build a new capability, to help them snoop on criminal suspects. But while those new safeguards apply to “technical capability notices” they do not apply to “technical assistance notices” which are in many respects as far-reaching. Dutton then demanded the Labor opposition pass it, accusing them of “ending any claim to bipartisanship on national security” while Morrison claimed the opposition leader Bill Shorten is “a threat to national security”. The government cited security agencies’ warnings that they urgently need the new powers to fight crime and terrorism. The result was, as the Law Council of Australia’s president, Morry Bailes, described it “a situation where unprecedented powers to access encrypted communications are now law, even though parliament knows serious problems exist”.

Source: The Guardian December 07, 2018 21:00 UTC