The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is seeking new powers that would allow operatives to attach basic tracking devices to cars and place them in handbags without a warrant to respond to threats fast.

It is also pushing for laws that would allow suspects as young as 14 to be interrogated, saying the rise of right-wing extremism and the security threat of foreign interference and espionage has made it necessary.

But lawyers voiced concerns on Friday that the proposed laws lacked safeguards.

Law Council of Australia spokesman David Neal told a parliamentary committee in Canberra ASIO’s questioning powers under the Bill were broader than China’s security laws – a claim vehemently denied by the ASIO director-general Mike Burgess.

“To suggest that these bills are comparable or in fact that our bill is worse is just beyond the pale. It’s completely, completely wrong,” he said.

The spy agency says the tracking powers, which would require only internal approval or a tick from the Attorney-General, would enable it to respond more quickly to security threats when officers are conducting surveillance on lone-wolf or smaller groups.

The push to interview suspects as young as 14, down from 16, is a response to the influence and radicalisation occurring via the internet.

“We are now dealing with the increasing threat of right-wing extremism and we are concerned about the impact that that radicalisation might have on younger members of the community,” he said.

No other country in the Five Eyes network has given its spy agency similar powers.

Mr Burgess ruled out the new questioning powers being used on Black Lives Matters protesters, such as those who pulled down statues, unless they were already under the watch of ASIO and suspected of organising “politically motivated violence”.

Changes to ASIO’s questioning powers were also said to be necessary if Islamic State fighters return to the country and when convicted terrorists are released from jail.

Parents of suspects as young as 14 often don’t give permission for children to be spoken to.

Law Council president Pauline Wright said Australia needed to maintain security laws that did not extend further than necessary to respond to threats.

“We are concerned that there are inadequate safeguards especially with respect to the proposal to lower the minimum age of questioning to 14-year-old children,” she said.

“And the lack of a requirement for the judicial authorisation of ASIO warrants is also disquieting.

“Where there is over-reliance on ministerial discretion, public confidence may be eroded.”

When asked by Labor legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus if the new laws were broader than the new Chinese national security laws by, Dr Neal said “yes”.