26th Nov 2014, 12:30 PM – Senate Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 - in Committee - Add definition of Convention Against Torture

The majority disagreed that a definition of the 'Convention Against Torture' should be inserted into the Intelligence Services Act 2001, which was proposed by Greens Senator Penny Wright. 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.