- CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia
is to impose "draconian" counter-terrorism laws after state and
territory leaders agreed on Tuesday to wide-ranging security proposals
made by Prime Minister John Howard in the wake of the London bombings.
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- Howard said the new laws, which include detaining suspects
for up to 48 hours without charge and using electronic tracking devices
to keep tabs on terror suspects, were needed to combat "unusual circumstances".
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- "We do live in very dangerous and different and
threatening circumstances, and a strong and comprehensive response is needed.
I think all of these powers are needed," Howard told a news conference
after the leaders' terrorism summit in Canberra.
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- "I cannot guarantee that Australia will not be the
subject of a terror attack ... but as a result of the decisions taken today
we are in a stronger and better position to give peace of mind to the Australian
community," he said.
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- Howard also unveiled plans to spend A$20 million (8.5
million pounds) on an Australian Federal Police chemical, biological, radiological
and nuclear research facility.
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- The new laws come from a review of Australia's counter-terror
laws following the July 7 London bus and subway bombings.
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- Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan, has steadily beefed up security and anti-terrorism laws since
the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
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- Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack
on home soil, but 88 Australians were among 202 people killed in the 2002
Bali bombings and 10 Indonesians were killed when the Australian embassy
in Jakarta was hit by a suicide bomb on September 9, 2004.
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- Under the planned changes, existing sedition laws are
to be replaced by a new law making it a crime to incite violence against
the community or against Australian soldiers serving overseas or to support
Australia's enemies.
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- "In many sense the laws that we have agreed to today
are draconian laws, but they are necessary laws to protect Australians,"
Queensland state premier Peter Beattie told a news conference.
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- Howard agreed to a demand by the states and territories
for a review of the new laws, which have been condemned by civil rights
activists, after five years and a sunset clause meaning that they would
have to be reauthorised after 10 years.
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- Australia's six states and two territories are all governed
by leaders from the centre-left Labour party, which is in opposition to
Howard's conservative Liberal/National coalition at a federal level.
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- The leaders agreed to strengthen citizenship laws to
make immigrants to Australia wait three years instead of two before they
would qualify to become Australian citizens.
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- Police would also be given wider powers to stop and search
people, and it would become a crime to leave any baggage unattended at
an airport.
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- New Terror Laws 'Fascist'
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- From AAP 9-27-5
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- A PROMINENT Islamic community figure has denounced Australia's
new counter-terrorism laws, saying sunset clauses could mean the nation
becoming "a fascist state" until 2016.
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- His comment followed the agreement announced today by
Prime Minister John Howard and state and territory leaders to implement
a range of new security laws, with a sunset clause promising they will
be reviewed after five years and expire in 10 years.
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- Law enforcement agencies will be able to detain terror
suspects for up to 14 days without charge, use tracking devices to monitor
their movements, and seek penalties for people who "incite" terrorism.
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- Keysar Trad, of the Islamic Friendship Association of
Australia, said the new laws were a severe erosion of individual freedoms
and would create fear and division in society.
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- "The sunset clauses mean the laws will remain in
effect for 10 years, and the review is more likely to increase them rather
than moderate them," he said.
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- "These laws will be unfair and could lead to the
creation of a fascist state."
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- Mr Trad said Australians should be worried at the possibility
they could be detained for questioning for up to 14 days, on the basis
of nothing more than "intelligence".
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- "It's very frightening to think of the future,"
he said.
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- "People can be arbitrarily taken in (and detained)".
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- He said the counter-terrorism measures were also aimed
at silencing criticism of the Howard Government's policies.
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- "It's very scary, especially with these laws about
incitement to terror," Mr Trad said.
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- "They could be applied to people who call for the
withdrawal of troops (from Iraq). It's a form of silencing debate."
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- "People like me ... who have seen these measures
in other countries have seen how they have destroyed those societies.
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- "We'll be stuck with them until possibly 2016.
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- "I can't see how any of these laws are likely to
lead to the elimination of the threat of terrorism.
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- "They will be dividing society and we don't need
to divide Australia - we're already suffering from this atmosphere of suspicion
and apprehension."
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- http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16738500-29277,00.html
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