Attorney-General George Brandis says former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks posed no threat to him during a confrontation at an awards ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday evening.
He said he didn't even realise it was Hicks who was heckling him until told by a staff member later.
In his interjection, Mr Hicks shouted out that he had been tortured in Guantanamo Bay with the full knowledge of the coalition government, asking Senator Brandis: "What do you have to say?"
Others were more concerned that Hicks had been able to get so close to the nation's top law officer at the invitation-only Human Rights Commission event.
"There was a random individual who turned out to be a terrorist yelling at the side of a room for about three seconds."
"My tax dollar has somehow funded an event where a terrorist has turned up and heckled the nation's attorney-general," Nationals senator Barry O'Sullivan told a Senate committee hearing.
Liberal senator Ian Macdonald suggested there was a security breakdown.
Senator Brandis said a fair bit had been made of Hicks' interjection, particularly by the ABC, on what appeared to be a slow news day.
"There was no point whatsoever when I felt even remotely threatened," he said.
"There was a random individual who turned out to be a terrorist yelling at the side of a room for about three seconds."
Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin said there was no direct threat. AFP officers later spoke to Hicks who was fully co-operative.
Later, David Hicks' lawyer Stephen Kenny, took issue with Mr Brandis' comments.
"Mr Brandis should most certainly apologise - David Hicks never was a terrorist and never will be a terrorist."
"David was surprised to see a member of the Howard government present at a human rights award, and that was a government that had abused his human rights, so it was quite a spontaneous thing from David," he said.
"Mr Brandis should most certainly apologise - David Hicks never was a terrorist and never will be a terrorist."
Adelaide-born Hicks was captured while fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. He was subsequently transferred to the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, pleading guilty to supporting terrorism.
He was released in 2007. He claims he was mistreated while in Guantanamo Bay and convicted on a statement of facts for which he never received any evidence.
The exchange of words comes a day after a US senate report exposed the CIA's post 9-11 interrogations as far more brutal than approved.
Some say it vindicates David Hicks' claim he was tortured, arguing the Australian government was complicit and should be held to account.
"We've got to look at the issues with John Howard, Alexander Downer and Mr Ruddock. They're the three people that were dealing with the situation. They kept saying everything was okay, everything was above board, and now it's coming out now that proves whole difference," David Hicks' father, Terry said.
Phillip Ruddock, former Attorney General in the Howard government, mintains he knew nothing of torture.
"I know that we had Australian officials when he was detained in the United States at Guantanamo who saw him on some 19 occassions and we would have observed if there were obvious manifestations of torture, we would have had reported to us when we were dealing with him," Mr Ruddock said.
But Mr Hicks' lawyer thinks his client should be compensated for his time in captivity.
"I think they should have the guts to stand up and say we were wrong, Guantanamo Bay was wrong, and we should compensate those people who were taken there allegedly beyond the law."
The Hicks team is confident a pending legal appeal will clear David Hicks' of a conviction they believe is invalid and obtained under duress.
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