The federal government will this week introduce legislation to extend anti-terrorist control orders to 14-year-olds and to provide for indefinite detention of high-risk offenders.
The Attorney-General, Senator George Brandis, announced the proposals at a media conference in Brisbane this morning.
Control orders currently have a minimum age threshold of 16 years. The government plans to lower this to 14 years.
It also plans to introduce a uniform nationwide regime of post-sentence detention for high-risk offenders who remain unreformed after completing their sentence. Brandis said the proposal provides for the Attorney-General to apply to a state Supreme Court for a post-sentence order. Such an order could include an indefinite period of detention.
Brandis said the orders would only be allowed on the basis of evidence and a high degree of probability. He said this already exists in some states in relation to serious sex offenders and other violent offenders.
The Attorney-General said the legislation had been in preparation and subject to consultation for some time, and was not in response to yesterday’s attack in Sydney.
A 22-year-old man has been arrested following a stabbing attack on a man in Minto yesterday. Brandis said the attacker was known to police, who will allege that it was an ISIL-inspired attack. He said the man acted alone. The victim remains in a serious condition but medical staff are confident he will make a recovery.
Brandis said the attack was the fourth in Australia since the terrorist alert was raised to probable (previously called “high”) two years ago tomorrow. He said a further 10 attacks have been interdicted and prevented.
- Listen to Brandis’ media conference (12m)
- Watch NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn discuss the stabbing attack (13m)
- National Security Hotline: 1800 123 400
