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

I think I have partly answered your question, Senator. In relation to the obligation to notify of a device not becoming operative, or whatever the phrase is, that is because the person has a right to know how long they have got before they are in breach of the law. And as I said to you before, when an order of a court imposes a burden on a citizen, the citizen—as a matter of simple civil liberty, frankly—has a right to know precisely that which is required of him.

What the new subsection (3) of section 104.20 deals with is something completely different. That is not the terms of compliance with the order of a court; that is just a general obligation to serve process. It is completely commonplace for statutes to say something is to be done by a public authority as reasonably as practicable. That is not for the purposes of ensuring that the public authority is compliant with an order imposed upon it by a court, the breach of which may have penal consequences, but to ensure it facilitates something.