Cabinet established an inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service in February 1994 amid mounting concerns that – as the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gareth Evans later conceded – its "internal culture … places a high premium on secrecy and loyalty", valuing neither accountability nor accuracy as much as it might.

"Community perceptions about reduced security risks" also needed to be addressed.

The then Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans. Credit:Vince Caligiuri

The report of the inquiry, released in May 1995, followed through with the proposition first put to cabinet that legislative charter rather than executive direction was a better model for a reformed organisation.

The government decided to be more open about ASIS.