Parliament is set to guillotine the ASIO Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025 through the Senate today, super-sizing ASIO’s coercive questioning and detention powers, while media attention is fixed on the government’s NDIS and gambling reform packages.
This deliberate timing is hiding this contentious bill from appropriate scrutiny and meaning the new “politically motivated violence” trigger, which poses a direct threat to the Palestine solidarity movement and protest rights, will sail through before the public catches up.
The Bill has the support of the Labor, Coalition and One Nation who are in lockstep on giving ASIO this unprecedented expansion of powers. The Greens will seek to amend this bill to remove the worst parts of it, and will vote against any expansion of these dangerous laws.
NB in 20003 now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke against these laws: https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/australian-security-intelligence-organisation-legislation-amendment-terrorism
Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Sheobridge
“This is the largest expansion of secret interrogation and detention powers this country has seen in over 2 decades, and the major parties are hoping nobody notices until it’s law.
“They were forced to reinsert a sunset date for these powers after community pressure but we know they want them forever.
“You know a bill is a bad idea if the Government and Coalition want to restrict democratic debate to an hour despite mass opposition from the community and political resistance inside this Parliament.
“Under these laws you can be locked up and interrogated in this country without ever being charged or even suspected of a crime. That should terrify every Australian, not just the ones in the room.
“A fourteen-year-old can be detained and questioned by ASIO with no lawyer and no court oversight and then when released they can’t tell anyone.