By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM
LA Trobe MP Jason Wood has encouraged state and territory leaders to extend the length of time that terror suspects may be detained and questioned.
During a speech in Parliament last Thursday 3 December, Mr Wood raised concerns regarding the eight-day limit that is imposed on law enforcement agencies when questioning suspects.
Under current law, investigators are unable to interview a terrorist suspect while in preventative detention and must release and re-arrest a person under part 1C of the Crimes Act before they can be questioned.
In keeping with his hard-line stance on terrorism, Mr Wood proposed that legislation be changed to allow 28-day preventative arrests without warrant.
“I am proposing that we look at the UK model,” he said.
“They have preventative arrests without warrant which must be from ongoing investigation into a suspected terrorist.”
He called on law enforcement officers to declare their support for the proposal, singling out Victorian Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton, Assistant Commissioner Ross Guenther, NSW Commissioner Andrew Scipione and AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin.
“In order for the 28-day preventative arrests without warrant, we need our law enforcement agencies to be prepared to be vocal on this,” he said.
“I have spoken to numerous law enforcement officers in the past.
“At the low levels they are very supportive of change; at the upper levels they do not dare ask the government for this. That needs to change, and change very quickly.”
Anti-terrorism legislation reform has been put on the agenda of the Council of Australian Governments, a meeting involving the leaders of the state and territories to be held on Friday 11 December, in Sydney.
Mr Wood, a former member of the Victoria Police counter-terrorism unit, has become a regular voice supporting terror reform in the parliamentary chambers.
He first raised concern about the lack of interview powers during a speech on Anti-Terrorism Bill No. 2 in 2005.
“I am greatly concerned there is no provision to interview a terrorist suspect while in preventative detention,” he said.
“No information which is obtained by investigators can be put to the suspect. No calls the suspect may have made, no emails he has sent, no personal contacts and no admissions can even be used in court.”
