PM Turnbull Pushes For Stricter Terror Laws

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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has today spoken at a Counter-Terrorism Meeting of the Council of Australian Governments regarding proposed terror law reform.

Referring to the recent plot in Sydney which involved a foiled attempt to blow up a plane and the planned attack in Melbourne last Christmas, Mr Turnbull said that the police, intelligence and security agencies need to be given the tools necessary to keep us safe.

"It is important that we have a consistent arrangement for questioning, detaining and questioning people suspected of terrorist offences prior to being charged," Mr Turnbull said.

"As you know, we have presented a proposal to reform or to change the Commonwealth law in that regard to enable the period of detention and questioning to be up to 14 days.

"We believe that – which mirrors what has already been legislated in New South Wales – will give our police the time to do their work, to gather the evidence, to examine electronic records, to gather evidence from overseas, to do the elaborate forensic work that Michael Keenan and I were looking at the AFP's Majura Facility yesterday. They need that time to do that in order to complete their investigations.

"And the laws that we have at the moment, in fact, as Gladys knows, enabled New South Wales and the AFP to complete that successful disruption and containment of the plot in Sydney just a few months ago."

Mr Turnbull also discussed his plans for a national facial recognition database, in order to streamline biometric data.

This was today accepted by all state and territory leaders.

5 October 2017




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