COMMITTEES

Ms MASCARENHAS (Swan) (16:12): On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, I present the committee's report entitled Human rights scrutiny report: report 10 of 2026. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). Ms MASCARENHAS: by leave—I am pleased to table the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights report 10 of 2026.

In this report, the committee considered 24 new bills and 87 new legislative instruments. It has commented on four bills and six legislative instruments and concluded its examination of four bills and one instrument. In particular, the committee commented on the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill 2026.

This bill seeks to extend the operation of several counterterrorism related provisions by three years. The provisions include stop, search and seizure powers and the control order, preventive detention order and post-sentence order regimes. These powers engage and limit numerous human rights.

The bill also seeks to extend the maximum duration of control orders that are imposed on children aged 14 to 17 from three months to 12 months. This engages and limits the rights of the child. The bill would enable surveillance and telecommunications interception warrants to be issued in relation to a 'serious terrorist offender' for the purpose of informing whether to seek the minister's consent to request a control order in relation to that person.

This measure engages and limits the right to privacy. The bill would also permit certain criminal history information to be disclosed and taken into account for the purposes of control orders and post-sentence orders, which also engages and limits the right to privacy. The committee considers that, for many of the measures in the bill, questions arise as to necessity and proportionality.

The committee is therefore seeking further information from the Attorney-General in relation to these matters. In this report, the committee has concluded its consideration of the Social Security (Administration) Legislation Amendment (Income Management and Enhanced Income Management) Instrument 2026. This instrument removes the self-repeal date of four legislative instruments which set out eligibility criteria for compulsory income management.

The effect of this is to provide for the continued operation of income management and enhanced income management in specified geographical areas until the instrument sunsets. The committee notes that compulsory income management engages and limits multiple human rights. The committee considers that it is not clear that continuing to operate compulsory income management is a necessary measure that addresses a pressing and substantial concern.

As no recent evaluations of income management have been undertaken, the committee considers that it has not been demonstrated that the measure would be effective to achieve the stated objectives of the income management regimes. The committee also retains concerns with respect to proportionality and therefore considers that the measure does not appear to constitute a permissible limit on multiple human rights.

For many years, the committee has raised concerns regarding the human rights compatibility of compulsory income management. The committee reiterates its previous detailed recommendations in relation to the income management regimes as set out in the 2024 Inquiry into compulsory income management report. The committee also notes that the government has not yet provided a response to the committee's 2024 inquiry.

In this regard, I note that the committee is required to conduct a further inquiry into income management by September 2027. I encourage all members to consider the committee's report closely. With these comments, I commend the committee's scrutiny report 10 of 2026 to the House.