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

The legislation speaks for itself. The government has reviewed the whole range of Australia's counter-terrorism laws. We do not necessarily share the views of the previous INSLM. The INSLM is a person who contributes in a well-informed and intelligent way to the thinking of the government of the day and, indeed, to the thinking of the parliament. That does not mean that the INSLM is like a final authority on the policy merits of any particular proposal. The policy merits of the particular proposal is ultimately a matter for the government of the day, subject to the will of the parliament. The government respectfully disagreed with some of the views about the control order regime of the former Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, and our views were closer to the views expressed by the COAG review of these laws. The fact that you had one respected person of one mind and another respected person of another mind, neither of them political partisans, should tell you that there is a variety of views about this. But the view of the parliament, or at least the view of the overwhelming sentiment of the parliament as reflected in the unanimous report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, should tell you that both sides of politics—not, of course, you 'Green' people—are of the view that there is a role for control orders. That reflects the overwhelming sentiment of the elected representatives sitting in parliament. It reflects, no doubt, the overwhelming sentiment of the Australian people who want to see this government pass laws that are suitable and appropriate to deal with the issue of terrorism.