Australian Human Rights Commission
Report title October 2022
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Continuing detention orders, which enable the continued detention of
‘high-risk offenders’ after the conclusion of their custodial sentence,
for up to three years.198
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Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) 'questioning
warrants' under which an individual can face five years in prison for
refusing to answer a question.199
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‘Declared areas’ offences under the Foreign Fighters Act 2014 (Cth)
which criminalise entry into a specified area without having
committed any other offence, or intending to perform any wrongful
conduct.200
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Presumptions against bail and parole.201
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Broad powers which allow police to stop, question, search, enter and
seize in areas declared by the Minister to be a security zone, without a
warrant.202
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Restrictions on fair trial rights.203
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Measures limiting children’s rights such as in the prosecution and
sentencing of children for terrorism offences.204
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Surveillance laws, including metadata retention laws enabling access
to data by law enforcement agencies, without a warrant.205
136. These laws, alongside other broad terrorism legislation,206 impact upon
rights to liberty, privacy, fair trial, freedom from arbitrary detention and
freedom of speech.
137. The Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) has a
statutory mandate to review the operation, effectiveness and implications of
Australia’s counter-terrorism and national security laws on an ongoing basis.
INSLMs have played a valuable role in recommending amendments to
aspects of counter-terrorism laws to better safeguard rights and freedoms.
The Commission also notes the work of the Parliamentary Joint Committee
on Intelligence and Security (PCIS) in examining counter-terrorism laws
passed through Parliament. However, the recommendations of the INSLM
and PJCIS are often not implemented by Government, or responded to in a
timely manner,207 and both face ‘ongoing limitations in their resourcing and
statutory frameworks’.208 Despite recommendations for reforms of
problematic laws, Kieran Hardy and George Williams have found that the
‘framework laid out by laws from the first decade after September 11
remains almost entirely in place. In fact, many of these laws exist in the
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