George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Let me respond to a few of the observations that have come from Senator Wright. First of all, Senator Wright, I wish you would not falsely claim that this legislation was rammed through the chamber last night. Each of the amendments—government, opposition, Green and Senator Leyonhjelm's—were dealt with by the chamber in an orthodox parliamentary debate, subject to no time limitation. There are time limitations in place later in the day, but last night's debate was not limited or circumscribed or foreshortened in anyway. You know that, Senator Wright, so why you would choose to say it was rammed through the chamber when in fact it proceeded in a routine, regular and orthodox parliamentary way I have no idea. Perhaps it is because you do not want to come to terms with the substance of the legislation that you make remarks like that.

Senator Wright, it is still not clear to me what your concern is. You seem to be saying in one breath that the problem with this new provision is that it duplicates existing law and therefore is unnecessary, and then in the very next breath you say it unnecessarily expands existing law and therefore takes the law beyond where it ought to be. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot say on the one hand that the provision is otiose because it merely restates what is already in the law and then in the next breath say the provision is dangerous because it takes the law too far beyond where it already is. It is not clear to me what your complaint is but, as I say, you cannot have it both ways.

The lacuna in the law that this provision seeks to fill is where the advocacy of terrorism is not caught by the existing law relating to the incitement of violence. That is the answer to your question. That is not merely my opinion; it is also the unanimous opinion of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which in its review of this bill observed—I am quoting from its report:

… the current incitement offence is not appropriate to capture the range of activity being encountered and investigated …

Senator Wright, I think you are a lawyer, are you not?