ASIO’s Compulsory Questioning Regime to Be Expanded and Made Permanent

The federal House of Representatives passed a bill on 31 July 2025, which is set to extend the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation’s or ASIO’s, compulsory questioning warrant framework for another 18 months, as the regime is so controversial it’s never been made permanent. However, that’s now likely to change, and these spying powers are set to be made all the more pervasive.

The compulsory questioning powers permit the boss of ASIO to obtain a warrant to require a civilian, who can be as young as 14, to appear for questioning for a cumulative 24 hours, over 8 hour intervals, or 2 hours in the case of minors, in order to assist in the protection of people or state in respect of matters relating to espionage, politically motivated violence and foreign interference.

But as home affairs minister Tony Burke introduced the bill to extend the sunsetting laws on 23 July 2025, he also introduced a second piece of legislation that seeks to make this regime that was initially placed on the books in 2003, in the wake of the 2001 New York 9/11 terror attacks, made permanent and broaden its reach.

Since the September 11 attacks in the US, successive Australian governments have passed over 100 pieces of national security and counterterrorism legislation that have effectively eroded the rights of all civilians living in this country, and due to the fact that this nation continues to be devoid of federal legislation that protects basic human rights, the bipartisan project has been one of overreach.

Indeed, when it comes to national security lawmaking, the major parties never shy away from the fact that they act as a duopoly on such matters, and with the head of ASIO warning earlier this year that all security threats are set to escalate and this current move to extend a regime once considered too extreme to be made permanent, it’s apparent that the surveillance state is creeping ever on.

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Burke explained to the federal lower house on 23 July, that during the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, ASIO director general Mike Burgess outlined that “over the next five years Australia’s security environment will become more dynamic, more diverse and more degraded”.

So, it is with this in mind, as well as the much-changed security situation of the present, that Burke has determined to not only extend the questioning regime until the 7 March 2027, but the reasons as to why people who aren’t suspected of having committed a criminal offence can be hauled in by the spying agency for questioning are being significantly broadened and made permanent.

“Today, I am introducing the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025,” said the home affairs minister on tabling the second bill, “which amends ASIO’s compulsory questioning powers to reflect changes in Australia’s security environment and further strengthen the safeguards and oversight mechanisms in the framework.”

This legislation, Burke explained, will revoke the sunset clause and make the regime permanent, and it “also expands the security matters for which ASIO may seek an adult questioning warrant”, so that this would capture “sabotage, attacks on Australia’s defence systems, the promotion of communal violence and serious threats to Australia’s territorial and border integrity”.

This builds on the current regime contained in part 3 division 3 of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Cth), which now permits those the attorney general has issued a questioning warrant in relation to, at the request of the ASIO director general, to be questioned over espionage, politically motivated violence, which includes terrorism, and acts of foreign interference.

The terror law drive

United Nations Security Council resolution 1373 was issued on 26 September 2001, seven days after 9/11, and it, amongst other things, required that all states pass serious criminal offences covering all terrorist acts, along with punishments that duly reflected the seriousness of such acts. And the agreement also required nations to prevent terrorism and to cooperate in doing this.

But while all western nations went to town on this agenda, Australia and its push to expand and make permanent ASIO’s compulsory questioning regime, is apparently still achieving this goal.

Burgess warned in February that the spying agency is increasingly concerned with “state-sponsored or state-supported terrorism or criminal proxies being used to conduct sabotage”, which is similar to what occurred on Gadigal land in Sydney over the 2024/25 summer, when overseas actors paid locals to perpetrate arson attacks, except those directing from overseas were actually Australian too.

In terms of communal violence, the ASIO head set out that this “refers to activities that are directed to incite violence between different groups… so as to endanger the peace, order or good government of the Commonwealth”.

This again reflects the scenario where criminals paid locals to stage antisemitic crimes against the Sydney Jewish community to make it appear that part of the local NSW population was targeting it out of prejudiced towards Judaism and its followers.

“Is an attack on a synagogue terrorism, communal violence, politically motivated violence or foreign interference?” Burgess posed in February.

And he answered that “depending on circumstances and motivations, it could be all of those things, or none of those things – and of course, I acknowledge the impacted community will be understandably more interested in protection and justice than language and labels.”

Shadowing the minister

The ASIO Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2025 will likely be passed through the Senate when it sits again in late August. Shadow home affairs minister Andrew Hastie explained on Wednesday that while the bill the lower house was passing would likely be promptly progressed through both houses, the legislation designed to expand and make the regime permanent will be sent for further debate.

The Parliamentary Joint Security and Intelligence Committee will now scrutinise the second bill as is the normal practice. The PJSIC is notorious, however, for being an exclusive club for major party politicians that’s charged with scrutinising national security and counterterrorism legislation and then rubber stamping it, prior to handing it back to parliament to be enacted.

Hastie explained that since ASIO’s compulsory questioning warrant framework came into play in 2003, it’s been renewed five times, and he added that this marks “22 years of bipartisan support for these tools”.

“We wish we didn’t have these on the statute books at all,” the shadow home affairs minister said, as he lamented the fraught security situation of the present. “But, in today’s world, it’s necessary that we protect the Australian people through such a legislative framework because ASIO’s compulsory questioning powers remain a valuable intelligence collection tool.”

“I want to put on the record very, very clearly that the coalition will always support sensible reforms which empower Australian men and women serving on the front line in intelligence and law enforcement roles,” Hastie added in the chamber on 30 July. “So, we’ll be supporting this bill without amendment.”