Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The first thing I can clarify for you is that the bill does not impact on the right of people to engage in peaceful protest, industrial action or civil disobedience. It is a fundamental precondition of a call-out order that domestic violence is occurring or is likely to occur. The bill contains a range of limitations and safeguards where the ADF is called out in response to domestic violence. These ensure that the exercise of any power under a call-out order is necessary, reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances. These limitations and safeguards operate at multiple levels, including the ministerial level, the ADF command level and also the level of individual ADF members. At the ministerial level, authorising ministers may call out only after the ADF takes into account the nature of the violence and whether the ADF would be likely to enhance the state and territory response to that violence.

The bill also imposes limitations on the way in which the CDF may utilise the ADF. The CDF may utilise the ADF under a call-out order only for the purposes specified in that order. The bill is explicit that the CDF must not utilise the ADF to stop or restrict any protest, dissent, assembly or industrial action except if there is a reasonable likelihood of either the death of or serious injury to persons or serious damage to property. Therefore the ADF could not and would not be called out in response to non-violent protests, industrial action or civil disobedience.

There may be circumstances—for example, Senator McKim, where terrorists attack a peaceful protest or conduct an attack in the vicinity of a peaceful protest, which is again very consistent with the methodology of attacking crowded places—where ADF members may be exercising powers in the bill, such as establishing a cordon or directing people away from a location where there is violence, which could incidentally impact on the people engaged in peaceful protest; however, this would only be in a manner which is reasonable and necessary to protect the lives and safety of people from actors, such as terrorists, who are carrying out or likely to carry out attacks of violence. It's important to remember again that state and territory police would always be the first responders to such incidents.