Portfolio — 2 April 2026

The Attorney-General, Ms Rowland, introduced the Secrecy Provisions Amendment (Repealing Offences) Bill 2026, the most significant rationalisation of Commonwealth secrecy law in the current parliamentary term [TA-260402-attorn-5591533abfb4]. The Bill repeals or removes criminal liability from more than 300 Commonwealth secrecy provisions — a reduction of more than one-third of all such offences — replacing a sprawling and inconsistent legislative landscape with a single targeted secrecy offence focused on harm caused by breaching genuine confidentiality obligations [TA-260402-attorn-5591533abfb4].

That targeted offence is explicitly designed to reach situations analogous to the alleged PwC breach of confidentiality, where persons bound by professional confidentiality obligations cause harm through deliberate disclosure [TA-260402-attorn-5591533abfb4]. On the press freedom side, the Bill requires ministerial consent before a journalist can be prosecuted for a secrecy offence — a structural protection that goes beyond existing practice and directly addresses long-running media industry concerns about the chilling effect of overbroad secrecy laws on public interest reporting [TA-260402-attorn-5591533abfb4].

The Attorney-General framed the reforms as implementing recommendations from the Review of Secrecy Provisions and the Government's response to the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor's review of secrecy offences, positioning the Bill as the legislative delivery of commitments made through two separate review processes [TA-260402-attorn-5591533abfb4].

The portfolio's stated policy thread runs the reforms through a dual frame: tightening accountability for genuine breaches of confidence while removing outdated, broadly-drawn provisions that created disproportionate exposure for journalists and public interest whistleblowers. The scale of the repeal — more than 300 provisions across Commonwealth law — signals a deliberate structural intervention, not incremental adjustment.

No parliamentary segment is available for this date, so the chamber reception and any cross-bench or opposition positioning on the Bill remain to be recorded.