After an appalling select committee process where we received 600 submissions - but Im sure we heard only a fraction of those who wanted to submit on the Countering Terrorist Fighters Bill - we pushed through substantial changes from what the government wanted. We need to respond to new terrorist threats. But there always need to be a balance - ensuring our safety needs to be weighed by safeguarding at all costs our basic freedoms. We have guaranteed that all searches on potential terrorist activity will require a warrant except in cases of urgent and extreme risk. And even in these circumstances, the Director of the SIS will be have to immediately notify the Commissioner of Warrants and the Inspector General of Intelligence, who will scrutinise each warrant. A warrant will need to be obtained within 24 hours - not 48 as originally proposed. The SIS will have to report on the number and use of these warrants publicly, every six months, rather than annually and be required to go into them in more detail, . Labour insisted on these safeguards - and many more than I can go into here - to protect our rights and ensure the Bill is narrowly defined on terrorism, not simply giving the SIS more powers. The legislation is temporary but we also insisted that the sunset clause is much shorter, so the Bill will need to be replaced pending a comprehensive review of the activities of all our intelligence agencies. Hopefully well get more chance for consultation then. Well certainly be holding their feet to the fire.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 08:56:22 +0000
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