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Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026
4Simplified outline of this Act11
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4 Simplified outline of this Act11
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is continued in12
existence by this Act. The ACIC consists of the Director-General,13
the examiners and ACIC staff members.14
The ACIC has the function of obtaining intelligence relevant to15
serious and organised crime and communicating that intelligence to16
combat such crime. It also has several other functions, such as17
providing nationally coordinated criminal history check services18
and making criminal intelligence assessments.19
If the Minister has issued an authorisation that identifies serious20
and organised crime, an examiner may, for the purposes of21
obtaining intelligence relevant to the serious and organised crime:22
(a) require a person to give information, or produce a23
document or thing, by giving the person a notice to24
produce; or25
(b) conduct an examination and summon a person to attend26
the examination.27
The Attorney-General may authorise a controlled intelligence28
operation. A participant in a controlled intelligence operation is29
authorised to engage in certain kinds of unlawful conduct and is30
not subject to criminal or civil liability for this conduct.31
4 Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026 No. , 2026
The Attorney-General may issue search warrants authorising the1
ACIC to search certain premises, persons, things or conveyances2
for relevant documents and things, and to do other related things.3
The Attorney-General may make assistance orders requiring a4
person to give information or assistance to allow the ACIC to5
access and use data held in, or accessible from, a computer or data6
storage device found during the execution of a search warrant.7
The ACIC is the administrator of the national policing information8
system and has specific functions in relation to the system.9
The Director-General may approve a person or body as an10
accredited body for the purposes of requesting and receiving11
nationally coordinated criminal history check services on behalf of12
consenting applicants.13
The ACIC may make a criminal intelligence assessment in respect14
of a person for the purposes of a background check required or15
permitted under other legislation.16
The ACIC may communicate information or deal with records17
related to ACIC’s functions (known as ACIC information and18
ACIC records) in certain circumstances. There are offences for19
unauthorised communication or recording of ACIC information, or20
dealing with ACIC records, by entrusted persons. Search warrant21
items and produced items (known as returnable items) may be used22
and shared in certain circumstances.23
The Director-General and examiners are appointed by the24
Governor-General. The staff of the ACIC must be persons engaged25
under the Public Service Act 1999. The Director-General may also26
engage consultants. Persons may be seconded to or from the ACIC.27
The Director-General must comply with recordkeeping and28
reporting requirements. The Minister must cause periodic reviews29
to be undertaken of this Act and the rules.30
No. , 2026 Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026 5