Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The very first role of government is to protect the safety and security of its citizens. As hard as it is to believe, it is a fact that there are those who are opposed to our way of life, our freedom and our values. Amongst that cohort are those who have the intent and the capability to do us harm. It is against those threats which this deal, the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (High Risk Terrorist Offenders) Bill 2020, is directly aimed. This bill will ensure that our agencies have the powers that they need to respond to the evolving threat of terrorism, and this reflects, in turn, our government's absolute and steadfast commitment to the ongoing safety and security of all Australians. In the current security environment, having a range of tools to combat the evolving nature of terrorism is absolutely vital. Indeed, experience overseas has demonstrated that the continuing threat posed by extremists, including those who have already served sentences for terrorism offences, is very real. The 2019 London Bridge attack and the 2020 Streatham attack in the UK were carried out by convicted offenders, highlighting the continued need for effective prevention and risk-management measures to protect our communities.

This bill enhances the safety and security of all Australians by creating extended supervision orders, or ESOs, and these will ensure that high-risk terrorist offenders can be appropriately managed in the community at the end of their custodial sentence. The Supreme Court will be able to impose an ESO for up to three years at a time if the court is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities and on the basis of admissible evidence, that the offender poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious terrorism offence. The court will be able to impose any condition on an offender that it considers proportionate to the risk that the offender poses. This bill also provides agencies with the necessary tools to monitor compliance with these orders and to protect sensitive national security information and ESO proceedings.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has considered the bill and made 11 recommendations, 10 of which will be accepted in whole, in part or in principle by the government. The bill will establish an extended supervision order scheme for high-risk terrorist offenders who continue to pose an unacceptable risk to the community at the expiration of their custodial sentences. Having people subject to ongoing constraints and even restrictions following the completion of their judicial sentence is not something that is done lightly. It is obviously a principle of fairness that we need to be very considerate and very cautious in our use of such provisions. But, as other speakers before me have pointed out, our first role is to protect the safety and security of Australian citizens. Where those risks are real and imminent, we must continue to act. This will ensure that such offenders are subject to close supervision in proportion to the level of risk that they pose to community safety. That hinges on the flexibility that will be enabled by this bill, which I touched on earlier.

Terrorist offenders are typically highly radicalised and often do not change their extremist views whilst in prison despite deradicalisation efforts. Such offenders continue to pose a high risk to the community following their release. Currently, there are two options for managing such offenders. The first is a continuing detention order under which a court may order that the person remain detained when they pose an unacceptable risk to the community and where that risk cannot be addressed through less restrictive measures. The second option is called a 'control order', and this allows conditions to be placed on a person whilst they are in the community. These orders, however, are not tailored for the post-sentence context as they allow only for a defined set of conditions and are issued by different courts to continuing detention orders. This then creates an issue of interoperability whereby the court considering an application for a continuing detention order is not able to impose conditions on the offender where it is not satisfied that a threshold for the continuing detention order is met. As identified by the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, there is a need for a tailored option for managing the risk posed by offenders who are released into the community where a continuing detention order is not made.

By way of further overview of this bill, under an ESO the court may impose any conditions that it is satisfied are reasonably necessary and reasonably appropriate and adapted for the purpose of protecting the community from the unacceptable risk of the offender committing a serious terrorism offence. In creating ESOs the bill will broaden the range of measures available to address the risk of terrorism to the Australian community. The government has put in place robust legal frameworks to provide agencies with appropriate powers, including control orders, preventative detention orders and emergency stop, search and seizure powers. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security has recently reported following its consideration of these powers and recommended that they be continued. This bill will add further to that framework with a measure that addresses the specific risks posed by convicted terrorist offenders. As we've seen from the recent terror attack in New Zealand and similar attacks in the United Kingdom, convicted terrorist offenders can pose a very real risk to our communities. Protecting the community from such risk remains our government's highest priority.

There are of necessity some amendments that will be required to other related legislation, which I'll now touch on. The bill amends other legislation to support the effective implementation of the extended supervision order scheme. To ensure the compliance of an offender with the extended supervision order, the bill amends the Crimes Act 1914 to extend the existing regime of monitoring warrants for control orders to also include extended supervision orders and interim supervision orders. These amendments will allow law enforcement to monitor the compliance of an offender either with their consent or with a search warrant for their premises or person. Amendments to Surveillance Devices Act 2004 and the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 will allow law enforcement to obtain warrants for electronic surveillance to monitor compliance with supervision orders and inform the minister's decision as to whether to apply for post-sentence orders. The bill also amends the international production order regime, which was introduced through the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020, to allow for improved cross-border access to communications data for law enforcement agencies. These amendments will ensure that agencies are able to obtain international production orders for the purpose of monitoring compliance with extended supervision orders. The bill amends the National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004 to extend existing provisions which apply to control order proceedings, to allow the court to consider sensitive information in extended supervision order proceedings without that information being disclosed to the offender or their legal representative. This is important, because it will ensure that the process of applying for an extended supervision order does not inadvertently and harmfully reveal sensitive sources, which is of the utmost importance in custodial environments. To ensure that the offender receives a fair hearing, the bill extends the special advocate regime which is currently in place for control order proceedings. The bill expressly prohibits the court from considering court-only evidence in determining whether to make a continuing detention order, as is currently the case.

Since this bill was introduced, in September 2020, the government has considered potential issues which may arise in the practical application of control orders and continuing detention orders. The government amendments to the bill would address those issues by, firstly, clarifying how control orders and extended supervision orders operate when a person is subject to immigration detention and other forms of custody, and, secondly, providing that control orders and extended supervision orders are the only measures that may be considered by a state or territory Supreme Court when deciding whether there is a measure less restrictive than a CDO that would be effective in preventing the offender's unacceptable risk of committing a serious part 5.3 offence. These amendments are necessary to ensure that these orders are as effective as possible in addressing the risk posed by terrorist offenders.

The government amendments have been considered by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The government amendments also respond to recommendations made by the committee following its detailed consideration of the bill. The committee made a total of 11 recommendations, and the government has accepted 10 of those in part, in full or in principle. The bill, including the government amendments, has been approved by a majority of states and territories, in accordance with the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Counter-Terrorism Laws.

In conclusion: this bill ensures that our agencies have the powers they need to respond to the evolving threat of terrorism, whilst also reflecting the Morrison government's absolute and ongoing commitment to the preservation of the safety and security of all Australians.

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