LL:ART: Liberal and Labor agree. Troops on our streets

[Communist Party of Australia]

The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper
of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday,
August 16th, 2000. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills.
Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
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  Liberal & Labor agree: Troops on our streets

It appears that the Federal Government's legislation to legalise
and legitimise the use of Australian Defence Forces (ADF) against
the civilian population to prevent or suppress political actions
will become law in time for use during the S11 demonstrations
against the World Economic Forum in Melbourne and during the
Olympic Games. The Bill is scheduled to come before the Senate on
Wednesday this week and has received the full support of the
Labor Party. (See page 1, last week's <BI>Guardian for details of
Bill.)

by Anna Pha

Support for the Bill is so bipartisan, that when I asked for more
information the ALP spokesperson referred me to a press statement
by the Coalition's Attorney General and Defence Minister!

The Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to the Civil Authorities)
Bill was passed through the House of Representatives in one day
(June 28) virtually unnoticed on the eve of the introduction of
the GST.

The Bill provides for the call-out of military forces to be used
against the civilian population: "to protect Commonwealth
interests" or when a State Government makes a request for
protection of the State "against domestic violence that is
occurring or is likely to occur".

(``Domestic violence'' in this context does not mean family
violence.)

The Bill gives military personnel wide powers including the power
to move, search and detain people. It permits the use by military
personnel of "reasonable and necessary force" and allows the
military to shoot to kill to prevent serious injury or if they
feel their life or another person's life is in danger.

Military personnel may also shoot to kill if someone attempts to
escape being detained by fleeing, has been called to surrender
and the military person "believes on reasonable grounds that the
person cannot be apprehended by any other manner".

The Government and ALP claim that the Bill does not change the
circumstances under which the Defence Forces may be called out,
it only codifies them and adds "safeguards" for the public where
there are none now.

The Bill specifies certain procedures and some paperwork but to
suggest that these are adequate safeguards as do the Labor and
Liberal parties is laughable.

The Bill does not provide the sort of safeguards that are needed
in a democratic society.

There is one restriction on the use of the military: they must
not "stop or restrict any lawful protest or dissent".

In reality this restriction offers very little protection. It
does not take much to render any action illegal by a police
instruction, a court or commission order.

Trade union pickets, which are generally regarded as illegal by
employers, governments and courts could become a particular
target.

The media have already suggested that there could be violence
during the S11 actions and at protests during the Olympics.

The NSW Government has called on the military to become part of
its security force during the Olympics.

There will be 5000 state police, 3000 private police, 4000
military (Operation Gold) and several thousand others from the
emergency services, in uniform with incredible powers to search,
remove and detain people.

"It is the security support that the ADF will provide to the
games that is relevant to the bill we are discussing today",
Liberal Member Joanna Gash told Parliament.

Have the military also been asked to assist in Melbourne during
the S11 protests?

Labor Party spokespersons claim that the provisions are the same
as existing police powers. Both Labor and the Government argue
that the Bill provides greater accountability than existing law.

But accountability only comes into operation AFTER the event --
AFTER someone has been shot or some other "incident".

The Minister of Defence is then required to report to Parliament
on the use made of the Defence Forces.

Even if the legislation added no new powers, its introduction
signals an intent to use military forces more than in the past.
The military has been used in the past -- against the air pilots
in an industrial dispute, against peace activists at Nurrungar,
against the miners in 1949, and in flyovers of the Franklin River
during the environmental campaign to prevent the building of the
Franklin Dam.

Labor's Shadow Attorney General, Bob McClelland, spoke in terms
of the legislation and defence force powers as providing "part of
our deterrence in sofar as anyone contemplating this sort of
terrorist activity in Australia would be on notice as to the
response that that activity would receive."

Indicating that the legislation has a long-term objective and is
not limited to the period of the Olympics, McClelland also spoke
of training the military to be able to coordinate and cooperate
with the state police forces in undertaking their duties.

The Bill is a big step towards the involvement of military forces
in the suppression of trade union struggles against corporations,
against militant actions to protect the environment and protests
against government policies.

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