26th Nov 2014, 12:38 PM – Senate Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 - in Committee - Include torture prohibition

The majority disagreed that a new section should be included in the bill that stated:

In performing its functions, ASIS must not engage in any conduct that would be contrary to Australia's obligations under the Convention Against Torture.

Attorney General George Brandis said that it was an unnecessary amendment.

Background to the bill

This bill is the third that has been introduced since mid-2014. A number of incidents have happened before and during the course of the introduction of these bills.

There was one of the biggest counter-terrorism operations in Australian history. The Prime Minister Tony Abbott also confirmed that Australia would be sending the military to Iraq to fight the Islamic State (IS) (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)).

The scope of this bill is narrower than the earlier two but some of its measures are "significant and warrant close scrutiny" (see bills digest). In particular, the proposed expansion of the control order regime and measures that would allow the heads of Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) to authorise activities in place of ministers in emergency circumstances.