Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to the UN Committee On The Elimination Of Racial Discrimination, 30 October 2017 The Commission considers these issues to be of such importance that the Committee should request an update from the Australian Government on progress in 12 months time. 8 Counterterrorism (CERD article 5; CO 12) 164. The Commission recognises the vital importance of ensuring that intelligence and law enforcement agencies have appropriate powers to protect Australia’s national security and to protect the community from terrorism. 165. The Commission also recognises that human rights law accepts, subject to certain conditions, that the exercise of those powers might impinge to some extent on individual rights and freedoms. However, any such limitation on human rights must be clearly expressed, unambiguous in its terms, and necessary and proportionate in how it responds to potential harm. 166. On 3 October 2017, Australia’s Prime Minister announced an intention to introduce new counterterrorism laws.199 A bill has not yet been introduced, but the media has so far relevantly reported the following new measures: 167.  adding driver licences to the Government’s database of passport and immigration information to allow authorities to immediately identify people suspected of or involved in terrorist activities  biometric screening at airports and information sharing between States to better detect anyone posing a national security risk  laws to detain terror suspects indefinitely, including those radicalised in prison, after their sentences were complete  increasing the pre-charge detention periods from seven to 14 days  more scope for security agencies to question suspects while they are detained but before they have been charged  new crimes for terrorist hoaxes and the spread of ‘instructional terrorist material’  changes to preventative detention orders to allow police to question suspects, while removing the need for a court order before a period of interim detention starts  amending laws to include a ‘presumption against parole’ for those with terror links, and  ‘intervention orders’ that would allow a magistrate to prevent someone contacting others — for instance, a young person who is at risk of being radicalised by suspected terror recruiters.200 The Commission is concerned by stereotypes of Muslim Australians with regard to terrorism and emphasises the importance of ongoing reviews of counterterrorism laws to ensure compliance with international human rights law, including rights enshrined in CERD. The Commission notes that governments should be vigilant in avoiding any risk of racial profiling in the exercise of counterterrorism measures. 32