Bill allows security services to withhold information from new watchdog

Government proposals for a security services watchdog would give intelligence agencies power to withhold information they deem necessary to safeguard sources, the Australian security monitor has warned.

The Government’s current proposals for a new security services watchdog would give the intelligence agencies the legal power to withhold information they deem necessary to safeguard their sources, the Australian security monitor has warned.

The new Independent Examiner of Security Legislation is being modelled on the Australian and British equivalents and promises, for the first time, oversight of security services in Ireland.