The Greens Party has called on the Federal Government to take a "strategic and holistic" look at Australia’s counter-terrorism laws.
Tasmanian Senator and Justice spokesman, Nick McKim, said he believes the system requires a major review – adding its needs a more structured and strategic approach.
"It has been done before in 2010, that’s nearly six years ago. Things have changed significantly around the world in the area of terrorism and counter-terrorism and it’s beyond time that Australia had another holistic and strategic look at these laws,” the Greens senator told the ABC.
"Since 2002 we've seen new crimes created 12 times, legal powers have been extended seven times, police have been granted new powers 16 times, intelligence agencies have been granted new powers 12 times - and these are unprecedented developments."
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But counter-terrorism expert, Professor Greg Barton from Deakin University, believes the current system is very robust.
“I think the Greens are mistaken in saying that it needs an overhaul,” Professor Barton told SBS.
“But what I think the Greens touched on is that there is not a lot confidence about sections in our terror laws and that means they’re not well understood, they’re not well explained.”
Professor Barton singled out public confusion about pending laws which will scrap dual-citizens of their Australian passport if they are convicted of terrorism charges.
“Part of the reason why that is so fraught is that because there is an area of Australian law at the moment where there is a real lack of public confidence or at least there is a deep level of concern as to the way we treat people regarding questions of migration and asylum,” he said.
“The lack of transparency around that is where we are at our weakest. So I think very good counter-terrorism legislation that has been very well applied is threatened with a crisis of confidence in this particular space.”
“The loose talk in Australia I think unnecessarily feeds anxiety and undermines confidence, trust; and I think that has real consequences.”
Rather than overhaul Australia’s counter-terror laws, Professor Barton has called for a united approach to help significantly reduce potential terror threats.
“If we can do any good thing out of a terrible threat scenario - working harder on building trust and social cohesion…that will help security,” he said.
