Labor tweak for foreign fighter bill

Deputy leader Richard Marles says Labor will try to reach a compromise over foreign fighter legislation.

Opposition deputy leader Richard Marles at Parliament House. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor deputy leader Richard Marles­ has signalled that the opposit­ion will try to reach a compromis­e with the government over its foreign fighter legislation, which is aimed at stopping Aust­ralians with terror links from returning home for up to two years.

Mr Marles, Labor’s defence spokesman, told the ABC the ­opposition supported a regime of temporary exclusion orders “in principle.” But he said the proposed legislation was complex and needed to be properly examined and tested to ensure it could withstand any legal challenges.

“It needs to be done in a way that is lawful, in the sense that it needs to be able to survive High Court challenges,” Mr Marles said. “But, at the end of the day, we completel­y acknowledge the importanc­e of having a temporary exclusion order regime and we’ll work co-operatively with the governm­ent to achieve that.”

Anthony Albanese and his frontbench were due to discuss the party’s position on the government’s legislation last night, with the Labor leader yesterday accusing­ the Coalition of politic­ising national security.

“The fact is everyone in this parliament opposes terrorism. Everyone in this parliament wants to keep Australians safe,” the Opposition­ Leader said.

“What the government does is actually undermine the bipartisan process that has occurred very effectiv­ely, where we’ve had a joint committee that’s examined these national security issues.”

Mr Albanese argued that “without exception” the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intellige­nce and Security had its recommendations adopted by the parliament. He also said its recommendations had previously been supported through the parliament by Labor and the Coalition.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has chosen not to embrace two of the committee’s recommendations relating to the temporary exclusion orders, a decision which has drawn heavy criticism from Labor.

The recommendations not being adopted by the government would impose a restriction that would prevent the minister from making a temporary exclusion order unless the government reasonably suspected an individual was involved in terrorism-­related activities outside Australia.

The committee also recommended a temporary exclusion order could be made only if it would substantially assist in preventing the provision of ­support for, or the facilitation of, a terrorist act. The government chose not to incorporate this in its bill.

Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally questioned why there was a need to pass the government’s legislation quickly, arguing that Britain had introduced a temporary exclusion order scheme four years ago.