Turnbull Government given green light for laws to detain terrorists indefinitely after jail sentences
The Turnbull Government has been given the green light for controversial national security laws that would keep convicted terrorists detained after their jail sentences expire.
NSW
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THE Turnbull Government has been given the green light for controversial national security laws that would keep convicted terrorists detained after their jail sentences expire if they were deemed to pose an ongoing risk.
The Daily Telegraph understands that the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and security yesterday agreed to back the laws but with the condition that it include a 10 year sunset clause on the legislation.
Its final report will go to the government by the end of the week.
The committee heard evidence from the Australian Federal Police that more than 180 suspected terrorists across the country were now under investigation by the AFP for terrorism related activities.
The extraordinary number of cases included 75 “active” investigations in what has been described as a “fivefold” increase in the space of just two years.
But of equal concern was the potential post sentence risk posed by 14 jailed terrorists already currently in Australian prisons, the first being due for parole next year.
Labor had originally sought to delay the committee’s final report on the High Risk Terrorist Offenders’ legislation until next year.
However, it is believed that the Opposition caved in to pressure following a heated exchange last week between the committee Chair Liberal MP Michael Sukkar and Labor’s shadow Attorney general Mark Dreyfus.
Mr Sukkar had taken Mr Dreyfus to task claiming he had politicised the committee and attempted to delay the legislation which is considered critical to dealing with a potential renewed terrorism threat with the first convicted terrorist due for parole in 2017.
The legislation was introduced in the Senate by Attorney General George Brandis in September and referred to the PJCIS for scrutiny. It is likely to be passed in the next sitting week with bipartisan support now expected from Labor.
It will be seen as another victory for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who had first proposed the laws to allow authorities to keep convicted terrorists behind bars following the end of their sentence if they were deemed a high risk of offending again.
Similar laws exist for paedophiles.
The Australian Federal Police raised concerns at a hearing of the PJCIS two weeks ago that the only mechanism available to national security agencies to deal with this potential problem was to apply control orders on terrorists on their release, which would restrict their movement through authorised surveillance and ankle tracking devices.
However, the cost of running a control order is estimated at around $4 million and could not guarantee that a terrorist attack could be prevented.
Under the new legislation, the State Governments would be required to build special facilities outside the general prison population to house any terrorists judged to require ongoing detention.
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