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

Yes, I think you are referring to schedule 5. Schedule 5 amends, in two respects, the preventative detention order provisions. First of all, it repeals paragraph (a) of section 105.1 of the Criminal Code by removing from the code the words 'prevent an imminent terrorist act occurring' and substituting the words 'prevent a terrorist act that is capable of being carried out, and could occur, within the next 14 days from occurring'. There is an amendment to the same effect, or a complementary amendment, of subsection 5 of section 105.4 of the Criminal Code. The purpose of the amendment is because of the vagueness of the meaning of the term 'imminent', so some clearer definition of the circumstances in which preventative detention orders may be sought is offered. Rather than saying it has to be imminent, which is a term that is obviously not delimited by any particular length of time and might mean different things to different people, we are putting a maximum period of time on it—that is, 14 days. It could be, of course, a lot sooner.