Law to stop foreign fighters returning home down to wire

Labor and crossbenchers say that while they support the overhaul in principle, they have serious concerns about aspects of the bill.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton. Picture: Gary Ramage

A vote on new laws preventing Australians linked to terror groups from returning home could go down to the wire in the Senate as Labor and crossbenchers indicate that while they support the overhaul in principle, they have serious concerns about aspects of the ­government’s bill.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton yesterday told The Australian he stood by his decision not to embrace key recommendations of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, saying he was acting on the advice of counter-terror agencies.

Labor and senators from ­Centre Alliance have said they support the key principles of the “temporary exclu­sion orders” bill — which will ban individuals who pose an ongoing security risk from returning to Australia for two years — but are calling for amendments to include safeguards recommended by the PJCIS.

Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick, whose party holds two crossbench votes, will try to move an amendment to extend the jurisdiction of the PJCIS so it can review the operational activities of the national security and intelligence agencies.

Senator Patrick said recent raids on journalists and media ­organisations had “drawn a line in the sand”, given the passage of a number of new laws in which the government had provided security agencies with additional secretly exercised powers that were not ­exposed to public scrutiny.

The government’s foreign fighters legislation is due to be debated in both houses of parliament this week.

The PJCIS recommendations rejected by the government include a restriction that would prevent the minister from making a temporary exclusion order unless the government reasonably suspected that an individual had been involved in terrorism-related activities outside Australia.

The committee also recommended the order could be made only if it would substantially assist in preventing the provision of ­support for, or the facilitation of, a terrorist act.

Asked why it was necessary for the minister to be able to make a temporary exclusion order against someone the government did not reasonably suspect of being involved in terrorism-related activities, Mr Dutton said: “We act on the advice of our agencies to keep Australians safe.”

“We have a bigger threat of terrorism in this country than any time in our history,” he said.

“Labor can’t get support from the extreme left wing of their party for national security legislation and that is the reason for their ­distractions.

“That’s the reason (Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark) Dreyfus always seeks to use the PJCIS to water down each and every bill.”

Mr Dutton’s comments came amid revelations that 40 jihadis who joined Islamic State­ and other extremist military groups fighting in Syria and Iraq had already returned home to Australia.

The Australian understands Labor’s home affairs spokes­woman Kristina Keneally has also been briefed by security agencies on the foreign fighters bill and will be briefed again on Monday by ASIO.

Senator Keneally said it was the first time the government had rejected a recommendation of the PJCIS since 2013.

“If Mr Dutton does not incorporate all these recommendations, it puts him at odds with his own colleagues including Andrew Hastie, Eric Abetz, Julian Leeser, Amanda Stoker, Jason Wood and David Fawcett,” she said.

However, PJCIS chairman Mr Hastie said he was “very comfortable” with the bill. He said the “most significant” PJCIS recommendation — which was accepted by the government — had been to amend the bill to require all temporary exclusion orders to be reviewed by a judge, retired judge or senior member of the ­Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

“That was a significant compromise. I’m glad the government’s accepted it,” he said.