Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

As I've stated, and, I think, as the minister has stated on numerous occasions, the current detention powers cannot be repealed in isolation before an alternative mechanism is in place to prevent a person from absconding, destroying things or alerting others to the existence of a warrant. The committee itself, as you are aware, supported an alternative framework to address the significant operational concerns of ASIO, and the committee agreed that, in the security environment, it is essential that agencies have access to a range to effective counterterrorism powers. Repealing detention warrants in isolation is a complex task, and the proposed amendments do not take into account the intertwining safeguards, protections and oversight for both questioning warrants and questioning and detention warrants within the legislation. This is a complex legislative amendment that should not be rushed through the parliament without due consideration.