June 18, 2003

Labor screw up - again

In a sellout which undermines their supposed concentration on policy, Labor have caved in and decided to help pass the government's ASIO legislation. In the coverage I've read so far, there's been no indication of why any change in the law is required. Surely that should be the first rule of thumb for any legislation - do we need it? Or are our current laws enough?

As discussed on Media Watch this week, the substance of the legislation is really scary. The SMH explains one provision thus:

Imprison for up to five years any suspected `terrorist sympathisers' who refuse to volunteer `highly relevant' information, fail to answer questions accurately or to produce documents or other requested items.

So, if you refuse to talk, they'll gaol you. If you honestly don't know what they think you know, they'll probably gaol you for that too - you've got to be able to prove that you don't know it. That's seriously screwed up logic and makes a mockery of the whole "innocent until proven guilty" concept.

You will have access to a lawyer of your choice but ASIO will be able to prevent you from using 'particular lawyers'. Does that mean they'll give you a choice from three that they like?

As some have pointed out, this legislation goes further than anything implemented by the US or the UK. As I said above, the question of why our current laws aren't good enough hasn't been answered. Labor, you're shooting yourself in the foot here - just because Howard wants you to play his stupid game doesn't mean you have to. Posted by david at June 18, 2003 9:28 PM