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

Thank you very much, Senator Hanson, for bringing that issue up. Of course you are right. As a general principle of social justice, the provision of legal assistance should be concentrated on those who do not have the means to pay for it themselves and not on those who do. So from a philosophical point of view, I agree with you and, if I may say so, that is the way in which we try to weight our entire legal assistance sector. In this particular case, though, we are dealing with a very unusual procedure—an application for a control order—and often a procedure that takes place in very urgent circumstances in which the practicalities of establishing whether or not the means of the parents of a person who is the subject of such an application would make it, I think, difficult if not impossible for the system to be workable.

I should also point out the context of this. There have been a very small number of control orders issued since these provisions came into operation in 2004, and I am not immediately aware—and I may be wrong about this—of any one of them that have been issued in relation to a person under the age of 18. We want to make sure that our coverage extends to everyone who may conceivably be at risk. So the number of occasions on which this is ever likely to arise is very, very few. In those circumstances, I do not want to build a complexity into the system which depends upon urgency in any event which is very, very seldom likely to be availed of. That having been said, I will heed carefully what you have to say.

I do not think you were in the chamber when I moved the amendment to which this amendment of yours is addressed. I should make you aware that there is a regulation-making power and if on closer inspection—and I am happy to talk with you privately about this or get you a briefing from my department—and having had the benefit of a fuller discussion of the matter it seems that there does need to be the kind of provision that this amendment would propose then that could be dealt with by regulation rather than amendment to the bill itself. Having regard to those considerations, the government will not be supporting this amendment.