Labor’s law to make ASIO’s compulsory questioning powers permanent is now before the Senate, after passing the House of Representatives in mid-February.

Introduced on 23 July last year, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) aims to give the spy agency the right to question non-suspects for up to 24 hours.

It seeks to make permanent a set of laws, enacted in 2003, that were considered so controversial they were subject to a sunset clause, meaning they had to be debated and renewed every three to five years.

Home Affairs minister Tony Burke has further extended the ASIO questioning regime’s life to March 7, 2027, with a separate bill.

ASIO’s interrogation ability is one of the most controversial laws ever passed; it was subject to 15 months of debate. After further amendments, the law today permits the ASIO Director General to obtain a warrant to haul in non-suspects as young as 14, for questioning for up to a cumulative 24 hours in relation to espionage, politically motivated violence and foreign interference.

These laws are part of the more than 100 pieces of national security and counterterrorism legislation that successive Australian governments have passed, with bipartisan support, since the 9/11 New York terror attacks. A September 2001 UN Security Council resolution called for such laws.

These laws erode the rights of all in this country, regardless of whether individuals have a desire to commit an act of terrorism.

Labor initially resisted these laws for 15 months back in 2003 because spy agencies have invasive powers to gather intelligence, which are not supposed to be used for policing. Labor is now attempting to turn measures it had once described as “police state” powers into a permanent law.

Expanding a draconian regime

Burke said the framework has undergone five parliamentary reviews and two........

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