State attorney-generals are set to meet today with the US-appointed defence counsel for terror suspect David Hicks to discuss the Australian's continued detention without trial.
Major Michael Mori will address the attorney-generals before they attend the quarterly standing committee of attorneys general in Fremantle.
However federal Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock says he won't attend that part of the meeting because to do so would be "inappropriate".
Mori speaks out
Major Mori told the ABC that the resignation of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could delay Hicks's release.
"There's going to be more delay until we know whether or not this military commission system is found to be legal or illegal by the US Supreme Court," he said.
"Unfortunately it just takes a long time to get a case there."
He believes Hicks will remain in detention for some time while the legal wrangling over the commission continues, despite the US developments.
"I don't think I'll ever believe David's coming home until he gets off a plane here in Australia," he said.
"Every other country's getting their detainees back from Guantanamo - Great Britain's got all theirs back, Afghanistan's getting theirs back, Iran got a detainee back - why isn't Australia?"
Questioning process
A spokesman for NSW Attorney-General Bob Debus said at today’s meeting Major Mori will answer questions on concerns about the increasingly drawn-out legal processes surrounding the Hicks case.
Adelaide-born Hicks has been detained in the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay for almost five years but has yet to go to trial.
"They (the attorney-generals) all believe the federal government should be doing all it can to ensure Hicks gets a fair trial, this is nothing to do with his guilt or innocence but his right to a fair trial," the spokesman said.
The government is already facing pressure within its own ranks to act on Hicks, with rebel National Barnaby Joyce calling for him to be brought home.
Amnesty International is also ramping up a campaign to have him freed, accusing the Australia government of abandoning the Adelaide-born Muslim convert.
Howard response
The prime minister says he doesn't support David Hicks being brought back to Australia until he's faced trial in the US.
Mr Howard says it's alleged Hicks resumed his activities with al-Qaeda after the September 11 attacks in the full knowledge of what the organisation had done.
Mr Howard says while he's not happy about the time being taken people should understand if Hicks was brought back to Australia he wouldn't be able to be tried for the offences, because they weren't offences under Australian law at the time they're alleged to have taken place.