THE Home Affairs Minister has agreed to introduce statutory limits for the detention of suspects after coming under a sustained attack in the States yesterday.

For more than an hour during the morning’s States sitting, Senator Wendy Kinnard was bombarded with questions over a ministerial order that police officers believed gave them the right to detain suspects indefinitely without charge.

Members were concerned that civil liberties had been inadvertently undermined and many called for a new statutory limit to the length of time a person could be detained without charge to clear up any confusion and lack of clarity about police powers.

The minister finally agreed and said that she would introduce such a limit as soon as possible. Earlier in the day, the Attorney General had explained that there was no statutory limit, but that other safeguards existed to prevent indefinite incarceration without challenge.