Certain Matters Regarding the Impact of Amendments to the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014
On 2 May 2016 the former INSLM, the Hon. Roger Gyles AO QC, completed a report on the impacts of certain amendments proposed to the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. This was a matter referred to the INSLM by the Prime Minister.
Executive Summary
Purpose
This report discusses three amendments to the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill 2014 that were recommended by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The recommendations proposed:
- reducing an amendment to the amount of time a person could be detained at Australia’s borders without notification of a family member or other person from four hours to two hours;
- imposing further reporting requirements in relation to the frequency of the use of detention powers, and that the Ombudsman be notified where the power to refuse contact with a family member or other person on national security and other specified grounds is used; and
- removing an amendment that would have, within the Migration Regulations, prescribed the collection of additional categories of biometric information.
Issues
The then Minister for Immigration suggested that the amendments may have had adverse impacts on the operations on the agencies within his portfolio. The then Prime Minister therefore requested that the INSLM consider whether such impacts may arise from the Committee’s recommendations.
Recommendations
The INSLM noted that all of the recommendations acted to moderate the impact of the legislation. The INSLM did not propose any amendment to the provisions (as, by the time the INSLM’s report has been written, the Committee’s recommendations had been implemented).