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Agency overview | |
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Formed | 19 October 1977 |
Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Australia |
Headquarters | Robert Marsden Hope Building, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
Employees | 138 (2015)[1] |
Annual budget | $54.7 million (2015)[1] |
Minister responsible | |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |
Website | ona.gov.au |
The Office of National Assessments (ONA) was an Australian statutory intelligence agency established by the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 as an independent statutory body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia as a portfolio agency of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.[2] ONA provided all-source assessments on international political, strategic and economic developments to the Prime Minister and the National Security Committee of Cabinet. ONA also played a coordination role in the Australian Intelligence Community through evaluating foreign intelligence products, convening the National Intelligence Coordination Committee, and developing relationships with intelligence agencies around the world.
ONA was regarded as the Australian equivalent of the United Kingdom Joint Intelligence Organisation, a combination of the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence and United States Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the New Zealand National Assessments Bureau.
On 18 July 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the creation of the Office of National Intelligence in line with recommendations from the 2017 Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community led by Michael L'Estrange and Stephen Merchant. ONI was formally stood up on 20 December 2018.[3]