Contents
Membership of the Committee
Recommendations and conclusion

1 Introduction

Purpose of this report
The Pine Gap agreements
The Committee's review task

2 Seeking information from the Department of Defence

The National Interest Analysis
Requests for an inspection
Private briefings from the Department of Defence
Different levels of access to the Joint Defence Facility - Australian and American elected representatives

3 Seeking information from other sources

Introduction
Purpose of the Facility
Telemetry signals
Signals from large radars
Signals from other satellites
Microwave emissions
Importance of the Facility
Continuing importance of the Facility
Australian involvement in the operation of the Joint Defence Facility
Transparency vs secrecy
The classified agreement
Observations on the evidence

4 Conclusions and recommendations

Introduction
The problem exposed by our review
Our duty
Resolving this issue
Concluding comments

Appendix A - Extract from Resolution of Appointment
Appendix B - Witnesses at the public hearing
Appendix C - National Interest Analysis 31

Dissenting Report -

Senator the Hon Chris Schacht, Hon Dick Adams MP, Hon Janice Crosio MP and Kim Wilkie MP 35

Membership of the Committee

Chair The Hon Andrew Thomson MP
Deputy Senator Barney Cooney Chair
Members The Hon Dick Adams MP Senator Vicki Bourne
The Hon Bruce Baird MP Senator the Hon David Brownhill*
Kerry Bartlett MP Senator Helen Coonan
The Hon Janice Crosio MP Senator Joe Ludwig****
Kay Elson MP Senator Brett Mason**
Laurie Ferguson*** Senator Bill O'Chee*
Gary Hardgrave MP Senator the Hon Margaret Reynolds*
De-Anne Kelly MP Senator the Hon Chris Schacht
Kim Wilkie MP**** Senator Tsebin Tchen**

* Until June 1999
** From July 1999
*** Until August 1999
**** From August 1999

Secretariat

Secretary Grant Harrison
Inquiry Secretary Cheryl Scarlett
Recommendations and conclusion

Recommendation 1
That the Minister for Defence authorise his departmental officials to provide the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties with:

a classified briefing on the purpose and operation of the Joint Defence Facility; a copy of the classified agreement that gives operational effect to the Agreement between the Australian Government and the United States Government relating to the Establishment of a Joint Defence Space Research Facility (1966); on-site access to the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap; and such other information as may be required to enable the Committee to determine if the treaty action is in Australia's national interest (paragraph 4.21).

Recommendation 2
That the Minister for Defence, in conjunction with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, develop a protocol for ensuring constructive parliamentary consideration of sensitive security-related treaties. The protocol should:

identify the full range of sensitive security-related treaties and subsidiary agreements to which Australia is a party; recognise the legitimacy and importance of the reformed treaty making process; require that briefings provided to the Committee be comprehensive and at least the equivalent in terms of detail and depth as briefings provided to the ASIO and NCA Committees of the Parliament, provided that such briefings be held in camera; and empower the Committee to request the relevant Ministers to be present during such briefings to assist the Committee (paragraph 4.22).

Conclusion

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties:

supports, in principle, the Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement between Australia and the United States of America to further extend the Agreement relating to the Establishment of the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap; and with the limited evidence made available, finds no reason to object to the continuation of the Joint Defence Facility (paragraph 4.24).