Bloggers unite for human rights May 15th
My post is to do with the new terrorism laws passed in many countries, but I will concentrate on my own.
The Australian Anti-Terrorism Act 2005 (Revised) is legislation intended to hamper the activities of any potential terrorists in Australia. It was passed by the Commonwealth Parliament on 6 December 2005.
The previous Anti-terrorism Act was passed in 2004.
My source is wikipedia.
Summary of changes
* Potential for preventive detention: short term detention for named individuals: without evidence; and without criminal involvement; the detainee may be interrogated by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO); disclosing that an individual has been so detained or interrogated is, in almost all circumstances, a crime.
* Control orders: Potential for almost unlimited restrictions on named individuals: freedom of movement; freedom of association (including one’s lawyer); banning the performing of named actions and owning named items, including actions and things necessary to earn a living; unlimited requirements to be, or not to be, at specified places at any or all times of the day and week; wear a tracking device; and including encouragement to submit to re-education. These restrictions are referred to as “control orders”, and may be granted for a period of one year before review.
* Significant restrictions on the right of any citizen to express certain opinions: including criticism, or “urging disaffection”, of the sovereign, the constitution, the government, the law, or ‘different groups’; exemptions may exist where the target of criticism is agreed to be ‘in error’; exemptions appear to exist where the claim is that a feature of a group of people is in some way offensive to the mainstream of society; onus of proof of goodwill is on the defendant – the presumption is not of innocence.
* It becomes a crime, punishable by life imprisonment, to recklessly provide funds to a potential terrorist: funds include money and equivalents and also assets; it is not necessary that the culprit know the receiver is a terrorist, only that they are reckless about the possibility; it is not even necessary that the receiver is a terrorist, only that the first person is reckless about the possibility that they might be.
* Police can request information from any source about any named person: any information about the person’s travel, residence, telephone calls, financial transactions amongst other information; professional privilege does not apply; it can be an offence to disclose that such documents have been obtained.
* A legislative provision for ‘hoax offences’ will create a more serious charge for people who cause chaos for the public and emergency services by dreaming up devastating terrorist-inspired hoaxes.
Let’s be clear. I am not a supporter of terrorism, but these laws have led to a lot of mistakes and injustices. I’m not a lawyer, but the whole principle of Habeas Corpus is missing here.
As far as I know a “suspect” can be detained without a lawyer and without anyone knowing, not even family. This is a breach of human rights and in my opinion has achieved what terrorism hasn’t been able to do: it has limited the so-called freedom that the Western countries are so keen on protecting from terrorism. Now, terrorism is not new. So why have these laws been enacted? To restrict the rights of a country’s own citizens. To keep them scared. To discriminate against Muslims.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:58 am
These laws are indeed very frightening. Thanks for highlighting and giving attention to these issues in such an informative & interesting way.
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May 16th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Thank you for this post. As you probably know, we are seeing these same types of “laws” coming into play in the United States and it is very unsettling. Your points are very well presented — thank you.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Yes here in the US we are losing a lot of our basic rights. I know that we are fearful of terrorists attacks but if the government would do its job concerning issues like being more careful about imports which can be poisoned, securing our borders and cracking down on gun laws we’d be better off.
Well done post.
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