Claims by Greens senator are ‘preposterous’ and to be dismissed ‘with contempt’, attorney general says

George Brandis has dismissed “preposterous” claims that the latest changes to counter-terrorism laws are intended to allow the targeted killing of Australians fighting for Islamic State (Isis).



The attorney general was responding to questions on a bill being debated in the Senate that would empower the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Asis) to provide assistance to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in support of military operations and to cooperate on intelligence matters.

The Greens senator Scott Ludlam raised concerns that the sharing of information about Australians suspected of fighting for Isis in Iraq would allow the ADF to target those citizens.

Ludlam said the existing Intelligence Services Act prevented Asis carrying out paramilitary activities, violence against the person or the use of weapons.

“If it is the case that this amendment is a backdoor allowing Asis to directly contravene section 6(4) of the Intelligence Services Act, or to be complicit in the targeted killing of Australian citizens who have not been charged or convicted of any criminal offence, that takes us into uncharted territory,” Ludlam said.

But Brandis said the new bill would not alter the ban on Asis conducting such activities, and he rejected the suggestion that the legislation was intended to allow the targeting of Australians.

“Senator Ludlam, you should know that the proposition you put is preposterous,” Brandis replied during Senate debate on Tuesday.

“Section 6(4) of the Intelligence Services Act contains an absolute prohibition against those agencies engaging in acts of violence. There is no way at all that these amendments can limit or confine or otherwise qualify the operation of the absolute terms of section 6(4), which is not the subject of amendment at all.

“The answer to your question, ‘Is it the Australian government’s intention to use this legislation to target people?’ is that it is a preposterous suggestion which I dismiss with complete contempt.”

Government agencies similarly highlighted the limits on Asis in submissions to a bipartisan parliamentary committee that examined the bill.

But in those statements, Asis and the Attorney-General’s Department also noted the potential for the ADF to act on the intelligence provided by Asis.

The agencies wrote: “What the ADF can do with intelligence provided by Asis, including the legality of any use of force exercised in reliance on intelligence provided by Asis, is governed by the ADF’s rules of engagement. These rules are developed in consultation with the Office of International Law within the Attorney-General’s Department, to ensure their consistency with international law, including international humanitarian law.”

The ADF’s chief of joint operations, Vice Admiral David Johnston, told a media briefing on 5 November that the military would conduct its missions against Isis targets in Iraq regardless of the nationalities of the people involved.

“In all our work, we’re looking to make sure that it’s military objectives, that we’re minimising the impact for those who are not involved in fighting,” he said. “And if there was Australians that met those criteria, we would – the likelihood of us knowing that … is very low – but if we saw people that were fighting, they were a legitimate target, and the engagement authorities were there to do so, then we would conduct the mission that we’d been sent there to do.”

Brandis said the ADF acted “ethically, consistently with the laws of war, consistently with its rules of engagement and consistently with Australia’s international obligations”. The government has previously estimated that more than 70 Australians are fighting for extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.

The bill to enable cooperation between Asis and the ADF also includes changes to control order arrangements in response to a request from the Australian Federal Police.

The opposition pledged to vote for the bill after the government accepted the recommendations of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security. The committee conducted a short inquiry into the measures that supplemented the recent “foreign fighters” bill.

The opposition senator Jacinta Collins said the counter-terrorism agencies had requested the new measures after the previous foreign fighters bill had already been introduced to parliament. “Labor insisted to the government that these new measures be introduced in a separate bill and subjected to public scrutiny and full intelligence committee inquiry,” she said.

Labor and the Greens reaffirmed the committee’s calls for the government to urgently appoint a new independent national security legislation monitor, an oversight position that had been vacant for seven months.

Brandis said he had written to the prime minister, Tony Abbott, suggesting potential appointees, and the preferred candidate was “a man of very, very great eminence and suitability”.

“I expect that that announcement will be made any day now,” Brandis said.