Friday, 13 December 2002
The failure of the Government and the opposition to reach a compromise on the controversial ASIO powers was welcomed by the Federation of Community Legal Centres, today.
The Senate’s rejection of the bill during the marathon sitting of Parliament,
of over 30 hours, has meant the bill, which destroys fundamental civil and
political rights, can not be passed until February.
Damien Lawson, spokesperson for the Federation of Community Legal Centres said today, “Both the government’s and Labor’s version of the bill are dangerous and unsupportable. They both allow for the detention of citizens not suspected of any crime. The deadlock is the best result for Australian’s civil rights.”
“Labor has admitted there is little difference between their bill and the government’s. Kim Beazley said in Parliament this morning that Labor’s version could allow detention for up to two to three days.”
“The existing powers of police and intelligence agencies are more
than adequate for the pursuit of terrorists without the creation of a secret police.”
“No other western country has gone down this route. While the UK and US have introduced preventive detention it is restricted to terrorist suspects, not innocent people who are merely alleged to have information about a matter of interest to intelligence agencies.”
“Friends and neighbours, lawyers and journalists could all be detained under these laws for over 24 hours on the basis of a suspicion that they possess information about someone ASIO is interested in.”
“We will continue to campaign for the complete rejection of these laws.”