Australia’s powers to detain ‘terrorist offenders’ to prevent future crime must be abolished, watchdog says

Australia’s Independent National Security Legislation Monitor was damning in his assessment of continuing detention orders on terrorist offenders. Photograph: Paul Miller/AAP

Australia’s “extraordinary” preventive detention regime is disproportionate to the threat of terrorism, has made us a “coarser and harsher society”, and must be abolished, the watchdog overseeing national security laws says.

A damning report from the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor was tabled late Thursday, examining Australia’s use of continuing detention orders (CDOs) on terrorist offenders.