Implementation

The recommendations of Keeping Secrets were substantially implemented through the enactment of the National Security Information (Criminal Proceedings) Act 2004 (Cth) and the extension of its protections to civil proceedings by the National Security Information Legislation Amendment Act 2005 (Cth),which also renamed the former Act.

Some important areas of consistency between the recommendations in Keeping Secrets and the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004 (NSI Act) are highlighted in the Attorney-General’s Department’s Practitioners’ Guide to the NSI Act, available on the Attorney-General’s Department’s website. For example, the NSI Act, consistent with ALRC recommendations, neither excludes nor impedes a court’s power to uphold claims for public interest immunity, make orders under s 130 of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) or other protective orders such as closure of court and non-publication orders.