"The intention of the bill is not to authorise operations outside the agencies' charters but to permit operations of limited purposes to enhance interoperability and improve joint activities via information sharing," he said.

Brandis acknowledged that the bill was "somewhat densely drafted" and given the intrusive powers of agencies such as ASIO, said it was important that established agency boundaries were maintained.

"The Coalition cannot support the amendments circulated by the Australian Greens," he said.

"These amendments would require details of the assistance sought and rendered under this bill to be published in ASIO's annual report. The Coalition is concerned these details may be highly sensitive."