Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

The Counter-Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 is incredibly timely. What this bill ultimately does is enable us to continue to keep our communities safe from terrorism while making sure that there are the appropriate safeguards in place in doing this. As a former chair of the Intelligence and Security Joint Committee, it is incredibly important to me that we build on the work that has been done for over a decade to ensure that we can keep the community safe. When the threat of international terrorism really started to hit our shores, from 2013 on, the parliament worked very carefully to put forward and agree to major pieces of counterterrorism legislation. Now, in a perfect world, we wouldn't need this legislation, but the fact is that we don't live in a perfect world and we have to deal with threats that are real and present. And, sadly, given that abhorrent Hamas attack on Israel a little over a week ago on 7 October, that threat could become real and apparent again here in this nation. So, as a parliament, we've got to work together to make sure that we can address that.

This bill seeks to implement several of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's 2020-21 review of police powers in relation to terrorism, the control order regime, the preventative detention order regime and the continuing detention order regime. The PJCIS report, which was tabled in October 2021, unanimously supported the extension of the powers reviewed, subject to certain amendments and the introduction of additional safeguards. The review made 19 recommendations to this end, all of which were accepted by the government in its response in September 2023. The sunset dates for the stop, search and seizure powers and the control order and PDO regimes were extended for 12 months, until 7 December 2023, following passage of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (AFP Powers and Other Matters) Bill 2022 in October 2022. The coalition supported this bill which gave the government additional time to finalise its response to the PJCIS review and to consult the state and territory governments in the drafting of new legislation.

The current bill introduces several reforms to ensure law enforcement agencies are equipped to protect the community from terrorism, while improving safeguard mechanisms. It does this by extending the operation of the stop, search and seizure powers for three years and enhancing safeguards on the use of those powers; enhancing oversight over the minister's power to declare a prescribed security zone; extending the operation of the control order regime for three years and enhancing the safeguards and effectiveness of control orders; extending the operation of the preventative detention order regime for three years and bolstering safeguards that apply to the issuing of PDOs; enhancing transparency requirements on continuing detention orders; and extending the operation of criminal liability offences for breaches of non-disclosure duties until 29 December 2024 while the government considers the report of the Commonwealth's review of secrecy provisions. I note that this last provision is unrelated to the PJCIS review.

It is always wise and sensible when laws, especially of this nature, are put in place that they continue to be reviewed, that they continue to be enhanced and that we continue to look at the safeguards around them, and it is absolutely appropriate for the parliament to continue to do this and to provide advice to the government on what the best way to continually enhance these laws is. The PJCIS, as a mechanism for doing this, has been able to do this work comprehensively and cooperatively now for over a decade. My hope is that it will be able to continue to do this, because if it were put in a position where it couldn't then the parliament, our democracy and ultimately our nation would be less safe as a result. I hope the government continues to bear this in mind.

When this bill was introduced, the Attorney-General noted that the government would not be implementing recommendation 6 of the PJCIS AFP powers review at this time but agreed to it in principle. That recommendation related to amending section 3UEA of the Crimes Act to require any agency that enters premises in accordance with that section to obtain an ex post facto warrant as soon as possible following the use of warrantless entry powers. The government noted that the complexity and significance of this matter warrants further consideration and consultation to develop an appropriate policy response. The coalition stands ready to assist with this process to ensure the intent of the PJCIS recommendation is realised. Our hope is that that is where the government will ultimately end up—making sure that the intent of this recommendation is realised.

The bill would provide for the continuation and enhancement of important counterterrorism powers that law enforcement agencies require to protect Australians. As I said earlier, once again we are seeing an absolute need for these powers. My hope is that we're not going to see an uptick in potential terrorism threats in this nation, but as always we have to be guarded and mindful that this might occur, especially given, as I mentioned, the abhorrent Hamas attack that occurred on 7 October. This bill will ensure our law enforcement agencies have the powers they need to manage the threat of terrorism while protecting the rights of individuals through stronger oversight and safeguards.

The coalition will always support sensible changes which ensure our legislation is fit for purpose to enable our law enforcement agencies to protect Australians from terrorism. That is why we wanted appropriate due diligence of this bill by the PJCIS and we wanted to ensure that this legislation will deliver that outcome: a safer Australia with the proper safeguards to do that. That is why, subject to the report of the PJCIS that has been tabled today, we will be supporting the passage of this bill.

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