Terror Law Changes Protects Australians at the Cost of Freedom
Monday 22 September 2014 @ 11.45 a.m. | Crime
Amendments to Australia’s anti-terror laws due to be introduced into Commonwealth Parliament tomorrow (23 September 2014) will substantially increase police powers with regards to terrorism. The amendments will amend a range of legislation including the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) and the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
The Amendments
The amendments will primarily significantly lower the threshold applying to police powers when considering whether to arrest a suspect for terrorism in the absence of a warrant. The proposed amendments will change the existing requirement where police must ‘believe on reasonable grounds’ that a person is committing a terrorism offence. Under the new laws, a police officer will only need to ‘suspect on reasonable grounds’ that a person is committing a terrorism offence.
The Federal and State police have also requested for easier applications for control orders intended to prevent terrorist threats. This has also been incorporated into the proposed amendments along with other amendments intended to restrict the movement or activities of certain groups and people. Authorities may be allowed to require certain people to wear an electronic tag or making them report regularly to a police station.
The current law allows for control orders to be applied for where the police officer ‘believes on reasonable grounds’ that people have been involved in terrorism activities overseas. But with the new laws, the threshold is once again lowered to a mere suspicion.
Other proposed amendments include provisions allowing for the enforcement of passport suspension and also provisions to allow for authorities to keep better track of terrorist organisations. Attorney-General George Brandis said in Brisbane on Saturday that ASIO and the AFP had expressed a "high level of satisfaction" with the proposed legislation, but the AFP had asked the Government for amendments to allow "expedited control orders".
Public Concerns
The proposed amendments have generated a great deal of alarm with the public and especially with the Islamic community. Muslim leaders are calling for assurance that the laws are not designed and will not be used solely for targeting the Islamic community.
Queensland Barrister Stephen Keim QC has warned against the rushing of such an important piece of legislation through Parliament.
"That causes me real concern because this type of legislation shouldn't be rushed through the parliament and if we are talking about passing something through parliament within weeks then that meets my definition of rushing it through parliament...Lawyers associations, police associations, academics, journalists who may be affected - everybody - should have the proper opportunity to study the legislation and make submissions."
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