Fed: Lawyers lash out at planned security clearances

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Fed: Lawyers lash out at planned security clearances

By Rob Taylor and Peter Jean

CANBERRA, Aug 11 AAP - Lawyers today lashed out at planned requirements for them togain security clearances to represent clients detained under sweeping new ASIO interrogationpowers.

Under the counter-terrorism powers drawn up by the government, the domestic spy agencywould be able to detain and question people for up to a week without charge if they couldknow of an imminent terror attack.

People detained will have the right to be represented by a lawyer.

But Victorian Bar Association president Lex Lasry said lawyers may have to undergoa national security check if they needed access to secret information during the questioningor may be a security risk.

Mr Lasry said lawyers were already bound by their professional confidentiality oathand asking them to pay up to $1,500 for a security clearance was insulting.

"If you are privately briefed by a client and you are required to undergo the clearance,then you will be asked to pay for it," he told ABC Radio.

"In a sense I see the process as an insult because lawyers in good standing are usedto observing rules about confidentially and that's why we say this process is unnecessary."

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Daryl Williams said lawyers would not be requiredto apply for security clearances to be present during questioning.

"There is no requirement for a lawyer to obtain a security clearance," she told AAP.

"It is not anticipated that lawyers will need access to national security informationduring questioning."

She said people being questioned would not have been charged with an offence, so therewould be no need for lawyers to access secret material to defend them.

"The need for access to national security information for the purposes of defendingcharges will not arise," she said.

"Therefore, we do not anticipate that the issue of who pays for the security clearancewill arise in this context."

But Mr Williams's spokeswoman admitted security clearances may be required if the matterproceeded to court as part of plans to better protect national security information incriminal proceedings.

"As part of that scheme, lawyers who wish to access national security information willneed to be security cleared," she said.

"At this time, the administrative arrangements governing who will pay for clearancesare under consideration.

"The government has not yet decided that lawyers will have to pay for their securityclearance, but we are exploring all options."

Mr Lasry said the best way to get lawyers to keep secrets was to have them supervisedby judges, not by carrying out security checks.

"In my view it's nowhere near as effective in protecting the information as the regulationof the lawyer's conduct by the particular court," he said.

AAP rft/sb/drp/br

KEYWORD: ASIO NIGHTLEAD