Member

The new clause would bake in robust checks and balances to constrain Government overreach. It would require parliamentary reporting within seven days of any direction, followed by a debate in each House at the earliest opportunity. It would require a High Court review, so that any operator served with a direction has an immediate right to apply for relief, with the Court empowered to confirm, vary, cancel or award compensation. There would be post-incident accountability, with incident reporting and mitigation measures required before operations resumed. Compliance costs are expected to be minimal and would require only a small up-front investment in technical infrastructure for a handful of data centres, some of which already possess such infrastructure. By definition, such powers are designed to be used sparingly and only in genuine emergencies.