Media Release: Labor and Coalition to guillotine super-sized ASIO secret interrogation powers
Media Release: Labor and Coalition to guillotine super-sized ASIO secret interrogation powers | Australian Greens Skip to main content Search Get Involved Join Donate Our plan Tax the 1% Tackle the cost of living Healthcare for all Fix the housing crisis Strong climate action Policy principles & aims Our team Federal MPs State/territory MPs Officeholders Media releases Take action Volunteer Donate Issues & campaigns Events Greens Shop Leave a bequest Our movement About the Greens Become a member Jobs Green Magazine All news Get Involved Join Donate Search Our plan Toggle Tax the 1% Tackle the cost of living Healthcare for all Fix the housing crisis Strong climate action Policy principles & aims Our team Toggle Federal MPs State/territory MPs Officeholders Media releases Take action Toggle Volunteer Donate Issues & campaigns Events Greens Shop Leave a bequest Our movement Toggle About the Greens Become a member Jobs Green Magazine All news Media Release: Labor and Coalition to guillotine super-sized ASIO secret interrogation powers 2026-08-20 Parliament is set to guillotine the ASIO Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025 through the Senate today, super-sizing ASIO's coercive questioning and detention powers, while media attention is fixed on the government's NDIS and gambling reform packages.
This deliberate timing is hiding this contentious bill from appropriate scrutiny and meaning the new "politically motivated violence" trigger, which poses a direct threat to the Palestine solidarity movement and protest rights, will sail through before the public catches up. The Bill has the support of the Labor, Coalition and One Nation who are in lockstep on giving ASIO this unprecedented expansion of powers.
The Greens will seek to amend this bill to remove the worst parts of it, and will vote against any expansion of these dangerous laws. NB in 20003 now Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke against these laws: https://anthonyalbanese.com.au/australian-security-intelligence-organisation-legislation-amendment-terrorism Lines attributable to Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Sheobridge “This is the largest expansion of secret interrogation and detention powers this country has seen in over 2 decades, and the major parties are hoping nobody notices until it's law.
“They were forced to reinsert a sunset date for these powers after community pressure but we know they want them forever. “You know a bill is a bad idea if the Government and Coalition want to restrict democratic debate to an hour despite mass opposition from the community and political resistance inside this Parliament. "Under these laws you can be locked up and interrogated in this country without ever being charged or even suspected of a crime.
That should terrify every Australian, not just the ones in the room. "A fourteen-year-old can be detained and questioned by ASIO with no lawyer and no court oversight and then when released they can’t tell anyone. "If while you’re being questioned you stay silent or refuse to answer any questions you can go to prison for five years.
Tell someone it happened and you go to prison. That's the choice this Bill hands to an innocent person. "Labor and the Coalition are burying the bill they can't defend under the dirty NDIS and gambling headlines.
Whatever it takes to keep the cameras pointed the other way." "When they write 'politically motivated violence' into this Bill, they are writing a blank cheque to target anyone who criticises this Government including the Palestine solidarity movement. "We have watched this government use national security powers against people marching for freedom before. This Bill hands them the power to do it in secret, with no one able to challenge it in court”.
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