The human rights commissioner has urged parliament to exempt children from proposed counter-terrorism laws that could see them spend longer in prison.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Federal parliament's powerful intelligence and security committee - chaired by WA Liberal MP Andrew Hastie - has reviewed the laws in Canberra on Tuesday.
Human rights commissioner Edward Santow said the legislation is problematic as it tells the courts to give greater weight to protecting the community over the best interests of the child involved.
"Evidence could suggest that denying bail to a child would be likely to have a devastating affect upon that child, but only a marginal impact in protecting the community," he told the committee.
Protecting the community and the best interests of the child should be considered evenly, the Law Council of Australia said.
Both the Australian Human Rights Commission and Law Council of Australia are against mandatory sentencing.
"It's a fundamental principle of criminal justice that detention decisions should be tailored to an individuals' particular offending and the risk to community," Mr Santow said.
"(This section) restricts the decision maker from making an individualised risk assessment based on all the evidence before them."
The Morrison government proposal creates a presumption against bail and parole for people who demonstrate support for, or have links to, terrorism.
It requires the court to fix a non-parole period of at least three quarters of the sentence imposed for a terrorism offence.
The proposed laws also close a loophole preventing some convicted terrorists being dealt continuing detention orders, which keep offenders behind bars if they pose a safety risk.
Department of Home Affairs officials said 52 people were currently in prison for terrorism offences, with 11 eligible for a CDO application made for them by the end of next year.
This information was at odds with a press release from Attorney-General Christian Porter when the legislation was introduced to parliament in August, which said the 11 were due for release in that time period.
Home Affairs official Claire Halim said a CDO application had not been made for any of the 11, but noted it was "certainly a possibility".
Parts of the proposed counter-terrorism laws are in response to a report into the prosecution and sentencing of children for terrorism offences.
The laws were originally introduced in February but were re-introduced after May's federal election, when the legislative slate was wiped clean.
Australian Associated Press
