AceBreakingNews – Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, says it no longer needs contentious powers to question children as young as 14, noting it has not asked for such a warrant to be issued in the last four years.
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- In short: ASIO is recommending the government scrap powers allowing it to request warrants to question children aged between 14 and 18.
- The extraordinary powers were given to the agency by the former Coalition government in 2020.
- What’s next? A parliamentary inquiry is reviewing the legislation.
The former Coalition government gave ASIO the extraordinary powers in 2020, with then-home affairs minister Peter Dutton arguing it would help the agency deal with the evolving threats facing Australia.
Federal parliament’s joint intelligence and security committee is reviewing the laws, and ASIO has told it the times have changed.
We no longer see a strong case to support the continuance of the power to question minors under warrant,” ASIO said in a submission.
The agency said one terrorist attack and three counter-terrorism “disruptions” in Australia had involved minors since May 2015, and seven minors had been charged with terrorism offences since 2014.
“As the security environment continues to evolve, so does the role and prevalence of minors in terrorism,” ASIO said in its submission.
“While at the time up to one-third of ASIO’s counter-terrorism caseload involved minors, ASIO’s priority counter-terrorism caseload now includes fewer minors compared to 2020.
“That is not to say the threat posed by minors has dissipated in its entirety, but that ASIO acknowledges the need for our powers to be reasonable, necessary or in proportion to the threat and our security environment, which remains complex, challenging and changing.”
ASIO said it had other ways to investigate minors without the questioning warrants, and noted the legal threshold for the attorney-general to issue such a warrant was “necessarily high”.
“The attorney-general must be satisfied there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person has likely engaged in, is likely engaged in, or is likely to engage in activities prejudicial to the protection of, and of the people of, the Commonwealth from politically motivated violence,” the ASIO submission said.
“This test is based on the premise that the individual and their activities are known to either ASIO and/or a law enforcement partner.
“Based on our experience since 2020, we consider that by the time a minor engages in activities that reach this threshold, it is a matter for law enforcement to lead.”
Director-General of ASIO Mike Burgess is expected to give evidence to the committee on Thursday afternoon.
The Home Affairs Department, Australian Human Rights Commission and Law Council of Australia have also called for the minors warrants to be scrapped.
Losing some questioning powers, but wanting to expand others
In recommending parliament repeal its powers to question minors, ASIO has requested its other questioning powers be broadened.
The intelligence agency warned the current questioning warrants were too narrow and did not allow it to question people suspected of inciting violence in the community, sabotage of critical infrastructure or planning attacks on the nation’s defence systems.
It cited welcome changes in 2020 which expanded its powers to cover espionage and foreign interference as reasons to broaden them once more.
“The threat environment was the key driver for expanding the scope of the questioning powers to espionage and foreign interference in 2020,” the submission said,
“ASIO can attest that the questioning powers have proven to be a highly effective capability in this context when less intrusive means have been ineffective in responding to this threat.
“As the threat environment remains increasingly volatile and shaped by diverse drives that range from geopolitical to technical and ideological, ASIO is proposing the questioning warrant framework be extended.”
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