http://www.smh.com.au/news/0008/10/pageone/pageone5.html Army's sweeping powers spark civil liberties fears By TONI O'LOUGHLIN The defence forces are set to receive sweeping new policing powers as Sydney gears up its security to host the Olympics and Melbourne prepares for protests at the World Economic Forum next month. Under the Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to the Civilian Authorities) Bill 2000, which may be passed with the support of Labor in the Senate next week, the defence personnel will be allowed to use "reasonable and necessary" force to suppress civilian disorder that State police forces are incapable of controlling. Defence forces will be allowed to enter buildings, cordon off areas like blocks of a city, erect barricades and stop transport to search, seize and detain people and property. The bill also allows defence forces to use lethal force where they have "reasonable grounds" to believe such action is necessary to protect life or prevent serious injury to themselves or another person. And despite the restrictions on using reserve troops during industrial conflict, the bill allows regular defence forces to be "called out" to deal with strikes. The Federal Government wants to pass the legislation in time to aid Olympic security preparations, but a spokesman for the NSW Police Minister, Mr Whelan, could not say whether the new powers would be called upon. The bill could be passed as early as next week after the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee reports on it. If passed, the legislation would be ready for the mass anti-globalisation protest - called S11 - which will blockade Crown Casino where the World Economic Forum will be held on September 11. However, a spokesman for the Victorian Police Commissioner, Mr Neil Comrie, said there were no plans to utilise the defence forces' new powers during S11. "At the World Economic Forum we are looking at a large number of protesters [but] we can manage that ourselves," he said. The Government and Labor claim the legislation is crucial for combating terrorism, and that it merely codifies existing practices. But critics of the legislation argue it will allow the Federal and State governments to "call out" defence forces to suppress political protests like strikes and demonstrations. Greens Senator Bob Brown said the "these sweeping new powers are unwarranted". "I will be investigating ways of amending the bill to make sure the Commonwealth Government cannot use troops in relation to peaceful protests or industrial disputes," he said. The problem is that the bill does not define the "domestic violence" the defence forces are meant to quell. Mr Warwick Johnson, a barrister and former member of the army, told the Senate committee: "The proposed amendments are mainly directed at terrorists and like activities, but are not limited and extend to such anti-social behaviour as amounts to 'domestic violence'. "When does something that starts off as an innocent protest and turns nasty, become 'domestic violence'?" he said. A community legal educator at Melbourne's Western Suburbs Legal Service, Mr Damien Lawson, said "domestic violence" was "so undefined that it's really a political decision of the Government of the day as to whether they think they can get away with using troops". "Under the pretext of ensuring public safety during the Olympics the Government and ... Labor have rushed through legislation which will permanently and fundamentally change the military's role," Mr Lawson said. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
