George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition support this amendment. It seems to us to flow logically from the scheme of clause 6 of the bill, given that the rationale for the establishment of this officer is to keep an eye on the operation and effectiveness of counterterrorism legislation and national security legislation. One of the matters which the legislation requires the officer to always have in mind is the question or the possibility of overreach, so amendment (4) proposed by the Greens seems to us to be entirely within that purpose—that is, whether the legislation is being used for an inappropriate or collateral purpose. I suspect it probably was not necessary to spell this out, given the amplitude of the language of clause 6(1) of the bill. Nevertheless, to make it clear that this is one of the purposes for which this officer is created by this legislation, the opposition sees the sense in having this spelt out specifically in the act.