Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister representing the Attorney-General and follows on from his comments supporting the military commission’s process in relation to David Hicks. Does the government have the same faith in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility? Has the minister seen pictures of David Hicks’s cell in Guantanamo Bay? Is the minister aware that David Hicks has been held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for the past eight months? Is the minister also aware that the cell in which Mr David Hicks lives never has the lights turned off and that he is only allowed to leave the room for an hour per day to visit a reading room, which has no access to books or legal documents? Minister, are these conditions acceptable to the Australian government, considering Mr David Hicks is being held without charge?