Ross Ray QC [President, Law Council of Australia]: "David Hicks may have been released from prison on 29 December, but he is not a free man.

Although it has not been alleged, let alone proven, that Hicks has committed any offence under Australian law, he is now subject to an interim control order issued under the Commonwealth Criminal Code. Amongst other things the control order requires him to report to police 3 times a week, comply with a midnight to 6am curfew, live at premises approved by police, only use a police issued mobile phone and SIM card and police approved email account and internet provider.

The order was issued on the basis that David Hicks, having allegedly trained with a terrorist organization and once expressed support for a violent ideology, represents an unacceptable risk to the community.

If the interim control order is confirmed in February, it will likely remain in force for 12 months. David Hicks can have little confidence that once it expires, a new order won't simply be sought.

Once more the Hicks case has drawn attention to the need to be vigilant in ensuring that measures introduced to respond to the threat of terrorism strike an appropriate balance between the legitimate sacrifice of some of our precious rights and freedoms and the introduction of excessive regimes which do not allow the appropriate testing of Executive action.

Restrictions on our activities, movements and associations may now be justified, not on the basis of charge or conviction, but on the basis of fear, assertion and supposition. Once branded a risk, a person remains forever vulnerable to Executive intrusion, since there is no obvious expiration date on a person's 'potential terrorist' status.

The Law Council will continue to monitor the effects of the control order requirements on the Hicks case, particularly from the point of view of their fairness and impact on the re-engagement of Hicks into the community."