Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

If there are more than four liberals in the Liberal Party, I look forward to seeing five of them or more crossing the floor and voting for this moderate amendment. It is a very serious issue. In all seriousness, these are incredibly strong and enormous powers that apply to everybody in Australia. It is a circumstance that anybody in this country can inadvertently find themselves caught up in for all sorts of unexpected reasons. It is very easy to think, ‘It is not going to apply to me because I do not get involved in dodgy activities with terrorists,’ but any of us who have bothered to look at the legislation even in the smallest degree know that any sort of association with somebody else who might have information that ASIO might want to get—even if it is just attending the same function as them—could be a trigger for somebody to be caught up by this sort of legislation, because it applies to everybody, including people who are not suspects. That sort of situation is something that needs to be scrutinised with the greatest degree of precision, and the overall examination of how those powers are used as a whole needs to be undertaken very frequently and the system must be continually assessed to see whether it is operating appropriately. I think it is a gross dereliction of duty by this government to simply put any sort of review or sunset clause out into the never-never.

I think it is a fair bet that, because of the length of time senators serve in the Senate these days, probably close to half the senators currently serving here in the Senate will not be here in 10 years time. To expect the Senate of that day, which will have very little institutional memory left of the rationale behind the putting in place of this legislation in the first place, to be considering a review is really devaluing the whole purpose of having sunset clauses, because the continuity of the people who were involved in it at the time will be lost. I doubt very much whether most of those participating in this debate will be here in 10 years time. I do not expect I will be, although I am looking forward to the people of Queensland showing good sense and giving me another term at the next election, along with Senator Moore, whom I noticed got preselected at the weekend, so there will be a few of us there.