"THEY that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Benjamin Franklin, 1759)
"It must be a matter of serious concern that the leaders have agreed to assist the Commonwealth to circumvent one of the fundamental human rights protections contained in the Australian constitution." (John von Doussa, 2005)
When these new anti-terrorism measures become law, police can arrest whoever they like, people as young as 16, and imprison them for 14 days if they have "reasonable grounds" for believing they pose a terrorist threat.
What those reasonable grounds might be is anyone's guess. The fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence is out the window.
On top of that, "suspects" could be tagged with electronic tracking devices or held under house arrest for up to a year, again without charge. This would be subject to judicial review but - and here's the crunch - a review only to determine that the letter of the law had been obeyed. The judge would not be permitted to establish if there was factual evidence for branding any person a terrorist suspect.
Nor is there any mechanism to guard against these periods of detention, either 14 days or a year, being rolled over indefinitely. Detainees could be released, then re-arrested within minutes.
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