NSW Premier Mike Baird prepares new terror laws

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This was published 8 years ago

NSW Premier Mike Baird prepares new terror laws

By Kirsty Needham

Premier Mike Baird will step back from his call for terrorism suspects to be detained for up to 28 days without charge in a bid to secure national support for new terror laws that would allow police to question people held on preventative detention orders for up to two weeks.

The NSW cabinet has agreed that 14 days is the appropriate limit, because of the increasing number of children becoming involved with Islamic State and likely to be held by police under revamped preventative detention orders.

Vowed to tackle tough issues, such as corruption in the political donations systems: NSW Premier Mike Baird.

Vowed to tackle tough issues, such as corruption in the political donations systems: NSW Premier Mike Baird.Credit: Nic Walker

It is understood that Mr Baird has come to the view that 14 days was appropriate if the prohibition on suspects being questioned while detained is lifted.

The Baird government has prepared revised terror laws it wants to introduce when the NSW Parliament returns. Mr Baird will urge the other states to adopt the same changes at Friday's COAG meeting.

Joint Counter-terror raids following the 2015 Parramatta shooting.

Joint Counter-terror raids following the 2015 Parramatta shooting.Credit: NSW Police

"It is clear given events of recent days that we need to take every possible precaution we can to keep the community safe," said Mr Baird.

In the wake of the Parramatta shooting by 15-year-old gunman Farhad Jabar, NSW Police had pushed for 28 days pre-charge detention, and Mr Baird wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in October urging the limit be raised.

But Attorney-General George Brandis said it could be unconstitutional for Commonwealth terror laws to detain someone for longer than eight days without charge.

Instead, Friday's COAG meeting will consider a NSW proposal to change state terror laws in parallel to allow the questioning of suspects held in preventative detention. Commonwealth laws on intelligence sharing will also be changed, under the national model.

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Preventative detention orders were introduced a decade ago but have been rarely used by police because of the ban on questioning.

Mr Baird said NSW had examined how similar laws were used in Britain, where questioning was allowed.

"We've done some work on it and we think that it should be positively received," he said.

George Williams, director of the Gilbert and Tobin Centre for Public Law at the University of NSW, said preventative detention orders were "a significant, quite severe measure on a person's liberty".

He said the Australian ban on questioning was unusual and counter-productive during an investigation into an imminent terrorist threat.

"Why would you hold someone for a month when it is illegal to ask them questions? It would be sensible to more broadly change the regime and allow questioning," he said.

Britain's terror laws had allowed pre-charge detention of up to 28 days between 2006 and 2011, but have since reverted to a 14-day limit because of human rights concerns, and the fact that extended detention was rarely used.

The last British terror suspect who was held for more than 14 days before being charged was arrested in 2007.

Mr Williams said: "Events like [Brussels] understandably provide almost irresistible pressure for further measures, but they can overcome debates about effectiveness and utility."

The British government's Terrorism Legislation Reviewer reported last year that of 65 people held under pre-charge detention in 2014, 14 people (22 per cent) were detained for more than 10 days. Charging decisions for eight suspects were made on the 14th day.

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