Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Respectfully, this is not a hypothetical case. This very matter was raised by the Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Mr Justin Gleeson SC, in the Hague in the International Court of Justice on 21 January 2014, where clear reference was made to a potential breach of section 91(1) of schedule 1 to the Criminal Code—one of the very sections that is captured by this legislation, allowing a person to be stripped of their citizenship. We know of the circumstances of this matter in terms of the serious allegations of the bugging of the East Timorese cabinet room during sensitive negotiations over the Timor Gap oil treaty back in 2004. We know that offices of Mr Collaery were raided. We know that this is a matter that is going to the International Court of Justice in terms of an arbitration—or it appears that it is headed that way—so I am concerned that such is the scope of this bill.

I understand the scope in terms of terrorists, and there is an argument as to what is the most effective way of dealing with it, and I will ask those questions down the track. But I am deeply concerned that that Attorney cannot rule out that there will not be a prosecution against Mr Collaery or Witness K, and that sends shivers up my spine, given the circumstances of this particular matter.