David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

LLESPIE () (): The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (AFP Powers and Other Matters) Bill 2022 as proposed—continuing the sunsetting for another year while things are reviewed—is a really important bill. We are fortunate in this country that we haven't had any terrorism events recently, but there's certainly been a long list of foiled and prevented terrorist attacks. We all know about shootings of police officers in Parramatta and plans to do bad things at power stations and water supplies around the country, and the threat still remains probable. That is the existential issue that drives this legislation.

The powers in the bill, if they're not applied appropriately, can be interpreted as overstepping the mark, but control orders, preventative detention orders and emergency stop and seizure powers are reasonable powers to have when intelligence comes through but the hurdle of going through a whole legal process is just not practical. But, in the application of these, there still has to be federal court involvement. There still have to be senior officers on the enforcement side of things—the AFP or state jurisdictional police. They have to have a basis of fact behind the application for getting these orders in place through a court. It's really common sense. If we don't have this, the intelligence agencies could end up being where they were with the September 11 situation, where there was all this chatter going on but people didn't have the wherewithal to connect the dots. But some of the people in the security establishment in the United States of America were putting the pieces together, from what I have read.

When our AFP get information, they can only detain a person for an expected 14 days. After that, they are released or it goes to a court and is judged by normal processes. It has a limited immediate application, and I think that the powers that are embodied in this are reasonable, considering the seriousness of the possibilities of a terrorist attack when they get this sort of information. I know they've used this without legislation—the principle of intelligence. So they've gone through the process, but sometimes things move very rapidly, and I think extending it for another 12 months seems a reasonable move for exceptional situations. So I look forward to this initiative getting support in the House, and I've said my piece.

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