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

Thank you very much indeed, Senator Leyonhjelm, and thank you for your courtesy in giving me some advanced notice of the question that you were proposing to ask. May I say, Senator Leyonhjelm, that I am aware that you take a deeply principled interest in this area of policy, informed by your liberal and libertarian convictions, which I greatly respect.

May I also remind you, Senator Leyonhjelm, that, when the Prime Minister and I announced a new suite of measures on 5 August, I did make the point that I would approach the necessary law reform task with a very strong prejudice against expanding the power of the state and protecting the liberties of the individual, which would only be displaced in the face of clear necessity to do so to protect the public interest. That being said, Senator Leyonhjelm, although we have a strong statutory framework, the fact is that the risk of returning foreign fighters does present the greatest threat to national security that Australia has faced in many years, and we are up against identified limitations in our national security legislation, many of which were identified in the bipartisan report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security. For instance, Senator Leyonhjelm, the legislation governing ASIO is an act of 1979, which, although amended, has not been significantly reformed since. The foreign incursions and recruitment act is an act of 1978, which has never been amended since, and terrorism takes new forms, it has pervasive new techniques— (Time expired)