The Royal Commissioner on Intelligence and Security, Mr Justice Hope, recommended the establishment of an intelligence assessment agency, which would provide independent advice on all matters of national importance.

The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, announced on 5 May 1977, during a statement on Intelligence and Security Arrangements, the establishment of the Office of National Assessments (Commonwealth of Australia, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard, House of Representatives No. 9, 3-5 May 1977, p. 1630-1633).

He also announced that, although legislation setting up the Office was still to be prepared, the Government in line with the Royal Commission's findings decided that changes should be implemented immediately, and hence announced the appointment of Mr R.W. Furlonger as the Head of the new Office. Mr Furlonger commenced in the new position in August 1977 and began making administrative preparations for the Office to begin operations (Prime Minister's Press Statement, Office of National Assessments, 19 Feb 1978).

The Office of National Assessments Act 1977 was assented to and came into operation on 19 October 1977. (Commonwealth Gazette. No. G.43, 1 Nov 1977, p.3). Mr Furlonger was formally appointed to the position of Director-General for a period of five years on 27 October 1977 (Commonwealth Gazette No.G.44, 8 Nov 1977, p.9). The Office began operation on 20 February 1978 (Prime Minister's Press Statement, Office on National Assessments, 19 Feb 1978).

Section 5(1) of the Act states:

"The functions of the Office are -

(a) to assemble and correlate information relating to international matters that are of
political, strategic or economic significance to Australia and -

(b) to furnish reports prepared, and assessments made, in accordance with paragraph (a) to appropriate Ministers and other appropriate persons;

(c) to ensure that international developments of major importance to Australia are assessed on a continuing basis; and

(d) to keep under review the activities connected with international intelligence that are engaged in by Australia and to bring to the notice of relevant Departments and Commonwealth authorities any inadequacies in the nature, the extent, or the arrangements for co-ordination, of those activities that become apparent from time to time and suggest any improvements that should be made to remedy these inadequacies."

Concerning the function of the Office of National Assessments, the Prime Ministerial Press Release of 19 February 1978 stated:

Mr Fraser said that ONA [Office of National Assessments] would not be a large body, and that it would have a professional staff of about 35, consisting of officers permanently appointed to ONA as well as specialists seconded from other Departments and authorities, such as Foreign Affairs, JIO [Joint Intelligence Organisation], National Development, the Reserve Bank, Trade and Resources and Treasury. ONA would avoid duplicating existing resources and data, but would involve other authorities in its work, and base its assessments on information available either inside or outside the Government.

The Office of National Assessments Act 1977 also provided for the establishment of:

• a National Assessment Board to consider assessments prepared by the Office in relation to matters not primarily involving economic considerations and
• an Economic Assessments Board to consider assessments prepared by the Office in relation to matters primarily involving economic considerations.

The Boards were to include departmental and service representatives and a representative of the Office of National Assessments. (Act, sections 6-7).

New Name from 20 December 2018

In 2016 the Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP announced the creation of an Independent Intelligence Review. This was a wide-reaching review and resulted in a series of recommendations to expand the National Intelligence Community and create an Office of National Intelligence out of the existing ONA. In 2017 the former Director-General of ASIS, Nick Warner, was appointed as Director-General of ONA in 2017, setting in motion the transition of ONA to its new role as ONI. The ONI (and previous ONA) reports released under the Open Access program are available through the National Archives. In 2018 Office of National Intelligence Act passed by Parliament on 27 November. ONI commenced 20 December 2018.

Historical agency address

West Block, Canberra

Hope Building, 2 National Circuit, Barton, from Monday 17 October 2011, the

Legislation administered

Creation: Commonwealth of Australia Acts, No 107 of 1977, Office of National Assessments Act 1977

Office of National Intelligence Act 2018

Sources

https://www.oni.gov.au/short-history-ona-oni

https://www.finance.gov.au/resource-management/governance/#flipchart

https://www.ona.gov.au/sites/g/files/net341/f/robert-marsden-hope-building-a-history.pdf?v=1431406525