In September 2005 the Inspector-General received a number of complaints about the treatment of Mr Scott Parkin, a US citizen in Australia on a temporary visa who had been detained and removed from Australia after ASIO issued an adverse security assessment and his visa was cancelled. The essence of the complaints had been that such action by ASIO was wrong as Mr Parkin was said to be a proponent of non-violent direct action and peaceful civil disobedience against the war in Iraq. This raised the question of whether ASIO had acted in accordance with section 17A of the ASIO Act, which requires that the functions of ASIO must not be carried out so as to "limit the right of persons to engage in lawful advocacy, protest or dissent and the exercise of that right shall not, by itself, be regarded as prejudicial to security". The Inspector-General decided to conduct an 'own motion' inquiry.