SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister John Howard won unanimous support from state premiers yesterday for tough new counter-terrorism laws, including detention without charge and electronic tagging of suspects.
Describing the legislation as “unusual laws because we live in unusual circumstances”, Howard said the London bombings in July had brought home the “chilling reality” that terrorist attacks could be staged by a country’s own citizens.
“We are worried there are people in our country who might just do this,” Howard told a news conference after a meeting with the Council of Australian Governments.
The laws include tighter checks on citizenship applicants, jail terms for inciting violence, detention of suspects without charge for up to two weeks and curtailing suspects’ movements and contacts for up to a year.
They also will provide police with greater stop, search and question powers. But they will be reviewed after five years and include a 10-year “sunset clause”, after which they would have to be dropped, altered or renewed, Howard said.
Amnesty International said provisions allowing 14-day detention of suspects were draconian and eroded long-standing freedoms.
“Amnesty International acknowledges the duty of the government to protect its citizens, however the counter-terrorism measure of detaining a person without charge for up to 14 days is extraordinary and undermines long standing safeguards in our legal system,” spokesman Katie Wood said.
A prominent moderate Australian Muslim leader, Keyser Trad of the Islamic Friendship Association, also condemned the laws and said they targeted Muslims.
“They have the potential of creating a fascist state and have the potential to divide society dramatically,” he told AFP.
“I am quite frightened by these laws,” he said, suggesting that they could be used against people who criticised government policy such as the deployment of troops to Iraq.
Howard denies the laws target Australian Muslims.
He acknowledged yesterday, however, that he had been shaken by the fact that the London attacks, which killed more than 50 people, were carried out by British-born men who spoke with English accents and “played cricket”.
In the wake of the attacks, Howard last month called a meeting with 13 senior Muslim leaders to map out a joint approach to curbing extremism within the 300,000-strong Muslim community, and obtained pledges of loyalty to Australia.
But he was criticised for excluding Muslims considered “radical” and several Muslim leaders have protested that Muslims feel they are being singled out.
“The feelings of the general Muslim population in Australia is that we are being collectively punished for actions that are beyond our control,” said Zachariah Matthews, head of Australian Islamic Mission, a charitable organisation.
Howard said, however, that Australia faced a “shadowy and elusive enemy”.
“In other circumstances I would never have sought these additional powers, I would never have asked the premiers of the Australian states to support me in enacting these laws,” Howard said. “But we do live in very dangerous and different and threatening circumstances and a strong and comprehensive response is needed.”
The government will also ask the national counter-terrorism committee to develop “a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear strategy, bearing in mind the potential challenge of those agencies and properties in the terrorist environment”, he said.
The premiers endorsed recommendations to tighten airport security which include the establishment of special police teams at 11 major airports and the increased use of surveillance cameras. – AFP |
