The decision by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to transfer responsibility for Australia’s domestic intelligence agency ASIO from the Department of Homes Affairs to the Attorney-General’s Department, announced on Sunday with the changes to the ministry, may not be something that gets political commentators excited. Yet it was an important recalibration of our security architecture that will be greatly welcomed by national security professionals.

To see why it is important, it is necessary to understand the history. ASIO was a creation of the Chifley Labor government. It was the early days of the Cold War; the threat of Soviet espionage was real. Australia was seen as a weak link by Western allies, in part because of the absence of a domestic intelligence agency like Britain’s MI5.

ASIO is returning to the Attorney-General’s Department.Credit: Matt Davidson

The original document constituting ASIO – not an act of parliament or even an order in council, merely a letter from Chifley to ASIO’s first director-general Sir Geoffrey Reed – described it as “part of the Defence Forces of the Commonwealth”. The powerful mandarin who was secretary of the Defence Department, Sir Frederick Shedden, wanted it to be a Defence agency; others thought it should be in the prime minister’s portfolio.

While Chifley saw the need for such an agency, many in Labor were suspicious of creating what they saw as a domestic spy force. So it was decided that the new agency should be placed within the Attorney-General’s portfolio, then held by H V........

© The Age