Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

This is a matter which, of course, the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General have been working on assiduously for some time. They have been making strong representations to the United States and telling the United States that Australia believes that this man should be brought to trial as soon as possible. I understand that the Attorney-General in a recent visit to the United States conveyed that sentiment personally to the Attorney-General of the United States. I also understand that the Attorney-General met with Terry Hicks, the father of David Hicks, recently in Adelaide and discussed the situation with him. The family raised a number of issues with the Attorney-General. He sought advice on the conditions of Mr Hicks’s detention from US authorities as a result of that and that is being pursued.

Throughout all of this, going back to when I visited Washington some years ago, we have made it very clear to the United States that this man should be brought to trial. He was charged and as a result of an appeal, Hamdan v Rumsfeld, those proceedings were stayed. The consequential decision in Hamdan v Rumsfeld necessitated a change in the regulations to the military commission that is dealing with Mr Hicks. We understand that Mr Hicks will be charged under these new arrangements and we have indicated in the strongest possible terms that all of the safeguards and concessions that we obtained previously will be applied and we received those assurances.