The following articles were published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, August 27th, 2003. 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> Subscription rates on request.
****************************** 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. **************************************************************************** -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]