Thursday, May 25th, 2023: Recent change in Criminal Intelligence Assessment threshold

OneStop has received communications from Home Affairs relating to the Criminal Intelligence assessment threshold.

The Transport Security Legislation Amendment (Criminal Intelligence Threshold) Regulations 2023 were registered on 3 March 2023 and included the following changes to the MSIC background check schemes:

• introduce a threshold for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) to issue a high-risk criminal intelligence assessment if it reasonably believes that it is necessary or desirable to prevent the use of aviation/maritime transport or offshore facilities in connection with a serious crime;
• require an issuing body to only issue an MSIC if notified by AusCheck that the applicant has not received a high-risk criminal intelligence assessment that applies this threshold; and
• require an issuing body to cancel an MSIC if notified by AusCheck that the holder has received a high-risk criminal intelligence assessment that applies this threshold.

The new threshold applies to all applications for background checks from 4 March 2023 and any background checks that were made after 22 June 2022 that have not yet been completed.

The Government has introduced a threshold of ‘reasonable belief’ for the conduct of criminal intelligence assessments as part of the MSIC background checks.

A criminal intelligence assessment is an assessment conducted by the ACIC to determine if
intelligence or information held by the agency suggests the applicant may commit or assist another person to commit a serious and organised crime.

You can view further FAQs from Home Affairs here.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes, please do not hesitate to reach out via email at helpdesk@1-stop.biz.