Exclusive: Opposition bristles at minister’s attempt to use Bourke Street attack to wedge it on encryption cracking laws

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Labor has accused Peter Dutton of politicising national security by lying when he suggested that the party opposes the government’s proposed encryption cracking laws.

The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has written to Christian Porter calling on him to pull the home affairs minister into line, so as not to threaten “the fine record of bipartisanship on national security”.

The letter indicates that Labor may pass the bill after the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security considers it but shows that the party has bristled at Dutton’s attempt to use Friday’s deadly attack in Bourke Street, Melbourne, to wedge Labor over the issue.

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The bill, released in August, proposes to give law enforcement agencies new powers to break technological encryption and access electronic devices.

It has sparked a backlash from tech giants including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, the Australian Human Rights Commission – who have warned it may infringe the privilege against self-incrimination – and the telecommunications provider Cisco, which has contradicted Dutton’s claim the bill will not introduce backdoors into tech products.

On Monday Dutton told Sky News that law enforcement agencies needed access to information contained in encrypted messages, such as WhatsApp, to fill a “real gap” in their surveillance capacity.

“Now Labor has said that they’re opposed to that – I hope that they reassess, particularly given the events of last Friday,” he said.

On Wednesday Dreyfus wrote to the attorney general citing Dutton’s comments, stating: “As you well know, this is a lie.

“Labor has never said we are opposed to this legislation, and Mr Dutton knows this.”

Dreyfus said Labor would not reach a final position until the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security completed its review because the bill “might change substantially” after the inquiry.

He said Labor and the government had “worked cooperatively” on national security issues since 2014. In that time the PJCIS had made more than 250 recommendations which the government agreed to, making national security laws “stronger and more effective”.

Bill Shorten noted on Monday that Labor had helped pass 10 sets of national security legislation since he became leader.

Dreyfus said: “Bipartisanship is vitally important in the area of national security – this is as it should be, and Australians rightly expect that such matters remain above politics.

“Nothing is more important than keeping Australians safe. It is for this reason that Mr Dutton’s attempts to politicise the PJCIS are so concerning. They reflect either total ignorance or a lack of respect for the PJCIS process, which is highly valued by both the government and the opposition.”

Dreyfus said he wanted “to be sure that Mr Dutton’s comments do not threaten the fine record of bipartisanship on national security”. He asked Porter to “discuss this issue with Mr Dutton, and urge him to refrain from any further politicisation of national security matters, or interference in the bipartisan work of the PJCIS”.

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In August Dreyfus expressed concern that the bill should not introduce “systemic weaknesses” but said Labor would “always act in the best interests of national security”.

On Monday Dutton conceded that he did not know if the government’s encryption bill “would have made a difference” in foiling Friday’s attack but claimed it “may well have”.

Earlier on Monday, Dutton said the Bourke Street attack was “unsophisticated”, consisting of an offender who had taken “a kitchen knife and thrown a couple of gas bottles on to the back of the ute”.

“There’s no level of intelligence or information that will stop that and the best way to try to prevent it is if we get tipoffs and information from the community,” he said.

The home affairs minister told Sky News the government’s preference was for bipartisan support for the bill so it could pass by the year’s end without negotiating with the crossbench.