Jax remembered learning about the seemingly inextricable link between terrorism and politics in his classes. History was littered with case studies highlighting the opportunism some governments and organisations showed in the aftermath of terror events – they’d capitalise on the widespread fear in the community to push through legislation or new powers, which they’d then exploit down the line for purposes other than public security and safety. Jax wasn’t overly political, but you couldn’t be in the army and not take some level of interest in this stuff – it governed your life as much as your commanding officer did.

He kept reading.

Ali Hammad and the 11 other men yesterday convicted of plotting to blow up a Sydney reactor will serve their sentences in a Goulburn jail after a request to incarcerate them in a specially built facility was denied.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that an ASIO bid to build a terrorist-only jail was torpedoed by the government. ‘We are not having a Guantanamo in Australia,’ said a government spokesperson. ‘No Australian citizen, no matter what their crime, is going to be thrown into a black hole and denied their basic rights – not just their rights as an Australian but their rights as a human.’

ASIO mounted a case for all 12 men – and another seven already serving time for terror-related crimes – to be isolated from not only the public but also other prisoners.

Hammad is no stranger to jail, the now convicted terrorist previously having served a two-year sentence for fraud. It is understood he met a number of his co-conspirators while serving his sentence, split between Sydney’s Long Bay Jail and the Goulburn Correctional Centre.

Jax closed the file and pushed it back across the desk. He now knew why Clarke was here.

‘They are all on a truck and on the way to Goulburn as we speak,’ Clarke said. ‘We have told the government that these terrorists can’t be treated like other prisoners. That they need to be isolated, cut off from everything and everybody. But they have blocked every piece of legislation we have proposed. While we’ve managed to get Hammad into Supermax, his co-offenders are going to be treated just like any other maximum-security prisoners. They’ll get their phone calls, their visits, their computer privileges and their jobs. I think you can see the problem.’

‘You’re worried they’ll reactivate their cell,’ Jax said.

‘I’m not so much worried about it as sure of it. The only way to stop them is with complete isolation.’