State governments are likely to support the Turnbull government’s calls for a national face-matching database at a COAG security meeting on Thursday, Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews said.
Mr Andrews said the states were also on board with extending pre-charge detention periods for terror suspects up to 14 days, in line with current NSW law.
The Victorian state government flagged a toughening of its pre-charge detention laws earlier in the year.
“We’re going to have to curtail the rights and freedoms of a small number of people in order to keep millions more safe,” Mr Andrews told Sky News on Thursday morning before the start of the COAG meeting.
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“Some will find fault with that, some will be offended by that. But ultimately I think that’s a price worth paying. And that’s why today I think we’ll have furious agreement about pre-charge detention, about the use of technology through biometrics and facial recognition.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday revealed his government would ask the states to hand over drivers' licence photos for a national database of faces, to be used by biometric face-matching software at airports, stadiums and other public places.
“Imagine the power of being able to identify, to be looking out for and identify, a person suspected of being involved in terrorist activities walking into an airport, walking into a sporting stadium,” Mr Turnbull said on Wednesday.
“This is information that is already being accessed. What we're talking about is doing it more efficiently.”WA Labor Premier Mark McGowan also indicated he would back the changes.
The federal government only has access to passport photos at the moment – and only 55 per cent of Australians have a passport, according to DFAT data from 2015.
The COAG meeting will also consider new laws to ban the possession of terror instruction manuals and how-to guides, including documents like bomb recipes.
The new law would reportedly not require the accused to have the means to act on any terrorism plan. Just having the document would be enough.
There could also be a new law on terrorism hoaxes to help crack down on faked threats that waste police resources. Terrorism hoaxes are already prohibited under various rules, but the government said police had requested clearer legislation.
