NSW Government Introduces Bill Allowing Terrorism Suspects To Be Detained For Two Weeks Without Charge
Tuesday 10 May 2016 @ 10.21 a.m. | Crime
On May 4, NSW Premier Mike Baird introduced the Terrorism (Police Powers) Amendment (Investigative Detention) Bill 2016 into NSW Parliament. The Bill would allow police to utilise new “investigative detention” powers to detain suspects for questioning without being charged with an offence, and would apply, with safeguards, to children between the ages of 14 and 17.
Introducing the Bill into Parliament, the Premier said:
“The terrorist threat is evolving and our response must therefore evolve and respond to that threat. Terrorism plots are developing more quickly than ever before and often it is only a matter of days before they are enacted…
We must be vigilant in ensuring that our police can respond effectively to the changing terrorism threat. Since using the preventative detention provisions in applications during Operation Appleby, New South Wales police have identified some critical operational gaps in our counterterrorism provisions and we must address these operational gaps. The bill does so, giving increased powers to New South Wales police to keep our communities safe.”
NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley told ABC News that Labor supported the bill in principle, noting that originally the Government had proposed a 28 day detention period:
"What's come back today, on the face of it, seems to be a more balanced and reasonable proposition, that does protect the community while providing the necessary balances that we need in our democracy…
So we're inclined to look favourably on what's been announced but we do have to do our job and scrutinise the fine print.”
Key Details
According to the second reading speech:
“This bill inserts a new section 25E, into the Terrorism (Police Powers) Act to permit a police officer to arrest and detain a person if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the person has committed or will commit a terrorist act, possesses a thing connected with a terrorist act, or is involved in preparing for or planning a terrorist act. The terrorist act concerned must have occurred in the last 28 days or a police officer must have reasonable grounds to suspect that it could occur within the next 14 days.
A police officer must also be satisfied that detaining the terrorist suspect will substantially assist in responding to or preventing the terrorist attack.”
Suspects could be initially detained for up to four days, with an independent senior police officer reviewing the detention every 12 hours. Following this period, a Supreme Court judge (acting as persona designata) may extend the detention period in increments of up to seven days to a maximum total period of 14 days.
The bill will also enable police to monitor contact between the suspect and family members and other parties (apart from the legal representative of the suspect). A judge may also make a ‘prohibited contact direction’, which would prevent the suspect from contacting a particular person (including the legal representative of the suspect).
The bill also includes a provision allowing for additional safeguards to be made by regulation.
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Sources:
Terrorism (Police Powers) Amendment (Investigative Detention) Bill 2016 & second reading speech - available from TimeBase's LawOne service
