Criminal Investigation (Covert Powers) Act 2012

As soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, the chief officer of a law enforcement agency must submit a report to the Minister that includes all of the following information for the year —

the number of authorities granted during the year;

a general description of the activities undertaken by authorised persons when using assumed identities under this Part during the year;

the number of applications for authorities that were refused during the year;

a statement whether or not any fraud or other unlawful activity was identified by an audit under section 78 during the year;

any other information relating to authorities and assumed identities and the administration of this Part that the Minister considers appropriate.

The chief officer must advise the Minister of any information in the report that, in the chief officer’s opinion, should be excluded from the report before the report is laid before each House of Parliament because the information, if made public, could reasonably be expected to —

endanger a person’s safety; or

prejudice an investigation or prosecution; or

compromise any law enforcement agency’s operational activities or methodologies.

The Minister must —

exclude information from the report if satisfied on the advice of the chief officer of any of the grounds set out in subsection (2); and

insert a statement to the effect that information has been excluded from the report under paragraph (a).

The Minister is to cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of Parliament within 15 sitting days from the day on which the report is received by the Minister.