The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper of
the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, August 27th,
2003.
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DANGER: POLICE STATE POWERS
The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would give the
Federal Government the power to cut off the internet and phone services
of groups and individuals involved in organising protest actions. The
Government will be able to order communication companies to stop
supplying services to groups or individuals labelled by ASIO and the
Federal Police as being a "threat to national security" and "contrary to
the interests of national security". Also, people running such targeted
web sites, and those with links to it, could be jailed for two years
under the proposed laws.
by Tom Pearson
The claim by the Government that the new laws are an anti-terrorist
measure is utterly without truth. The clear intention of the
legislation, which will now go to the Senate, is to suppress and silence
public dissent and protest against government policies. It follows the
passing of draconian laws during the past three years giving ASIO, the
Federal Police and the military unprecedented powers for use against the
Australian people.
The ALP supports the Bill and is set to pass it with lame amendments in
the same way it gave the green light to the ASIO Bill, Labor's Lindsay
Tanner saying the ALP backed "the thrust" of the aim to cut people's
telecommunications services.
Those who have their telecommunications cut off will not have to be told
beforehand that they failed a security check. The Attorney-General will
also be able to order the Australian Communications Authority to refuse
a licence to any telecommunications service provider and the Authority
would be required to get permission from the Attorney-General's office
before granting a licence to any provider.
The Australian Council of Civil Liberties warns that the legislation
gives wide discretion to the government of the day based on vague terms
such as "national security" to deny what is a basic right, the ability
to access telecommunications services.
"It is not about dealing with crime", said Council of Civil Liberties
spokesperson Ian Dearden. "It's about dealing with politics. It's a
classic authoritarian step." Keysar Trad, a spokesperson from Sydney's
Muslim community, said the proposed new laws were "extreme measures" and
that the Government had failed to provide proof that there was a
terrorist threat to Australia.
The threat of a terrorist attack, if one exists at all, comes from
Australia's involvement in the war on Iraq and ties to the US: it is the
actions of the Howard Government that threaten Australia's security.
The creation of a police state has taken a number of "authoritarian
steps". Australia's secret police, ASIO, now has more agents than at any
time in its history. The Government has put the reintroduction of the
death penalty on the political agenda with Howard promoting a "debate"
on capital punishment as part of the coming federal election campaign.
In response, the Queensland and Northern Territory branches of the
Liberal Party have publicly supported a return of capital punishment.
Added to this are the new powers given to ASIO in laws passed in July.
ASIO now has the power to arrest and detain citizens. People can now be
held indefinitely on the basis that they might have information about
terrorism or matters the Government can label terrorism.
The definition of "terrorist groups" is so vague and sweeping that they
allow the label to be put on trade unions, protest groups and political
parties. The power of the Attorney-General to simply nominate groups as
terrorist-oriented leaves the way open for widespread discrimination and
victimisation.
It should be recalled that the Australian military, under legislation
introduced in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, now has the power
to shoot down civilians in the streets. The Defence Legislation
Amendment (Aid to the Civil Authorities) Bill established the legal and
political basis for using troops to "suppress political disturbances".
The measures allow for the use of "reasonable and necessary force", in
essence the right of military personal to shoot to kill.
All these fascistic powers were introduced under the cover of
"anti-terrorism" measures, but that cover, never having any substance,
is now transparent. In the name of fighting terror, during just the past
eight months the Australian people have witnessed the Howard Government:
* commit them to a terrorist war on the people of Iraq that slaughtered
more than 10,000 innocent people;
* lie to the public to do so; resume ties with the terrorist arm of the
Indonesian military, Kopassus;
* occupy the Solomon Islands as part of a broader plan to become
colonial overlord in the Pacific; and now
* add to a raft of powers aimed at imposing a police state.
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