ABSTRACT
Australia has introduced a range of extraordinary legal measures to combat the threat of terrorism. One of these is preventative detention orders (PDO), which permits a person to be detained, without arrest or charge, by the police for up to 14 days. Preventative detention orders (PDOs) were introduced into the Criminal Code Act 1995 in 2005. This chapter sets out how the PDO regime operates. It then assesses the regime in light of its goals, comparative approaches and principles of preventive justice, most notably the principles of necessity, least restrictive means, sufficient substantiating evidence and a right to fair trial. The lack of justification for Australia's PDO regime means that it should be abolished. Rather than responding to independent reports recommending this course of action, Parliament instead extended the operation of the regime. The secrecy imposed with the regime is inconsistent with the notions of open justice and transparency.
