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

Thank you very much, Mr President. I am aware that Mr Walker is of that view. I am also aware that there are many, and they include those responsible for policing, who are not of that view. Those people include, most importantly, the acting commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Acting Commissioner Andrew Colvin, with whom I had a discussion about this matter as recently as Sunday afternoon, and with whose officers I have had many discussions.

Senator Wright, there will always be legitimate room for a debate about the design features of particular measures. There will always be, in particular, room for a legitimate debate where those measures are unusual measures. Preventative detention orders, like control orders, are unusual features of our law. They were introduced by the Howard government in 2005 specifically to deal with a very unusual set of circumstances, and that is where a terrorist event was considered by the authorities to be imminent to give them the power to take a person into custody in circumstances in which, for various reasons, an arrest, which is, as you well know, the ordinary mode in which people are taken into custody might not be available. So rare are those powers that they were never used for last week.

As you know, Senator, the foreign fighters bill, which is being introduced into the Senate this afternoon, deals with the issue of preventative detention orders. The bill is going to be referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and they are going to have a good look at it as well. But it is the view of the government that there is a role, albeit in unusual and very limited circumstances, for this device. The government is determined that every piece of equipment needs to be in the armoury to keep our country safe.