Our federal government is thinking of introducing new “Anti-Terror” Laws. Now there is a couple of laws in this that I think I understand and am very concerned about.
The first is “Preventative Detention”, under these changes a person may have controlled detention or movement if the Police or other agency believes this will prevent a Terrorism act. To get a Preventative Detention order they only have to get it ratified by a retired Judge or the like. The person can then be placed in home detention for up to 12 months! All without the ability to contest the detention in a court of law (Update the PM is now saying he may modify to allow this). In the initial draft the police could “Shoot-to-Kill” if the person tried to avoid detention, however it looks like the state governments have made him back down on this. These laws (according to leading lawyers) are a breach of our own Human Rights laws.
The second set of laws are around Sedition, making it a crime to vocalize support of Terrorists or Acts of Terror. I do not believe that any democracy would want to implement laws that restrict open debate and free speech. Also it appears that media outlets that “encourage” people to express these opinions, up to 7 years for the person, the journalist and the media editor.
What are we coming to?