'Police state' laws condemned

AUSTRALIA is moving towards a police state with harsh anti-terrorism laws that could be pushed through parliament too quickly, the Law Council of Australia has said.

Copies of the sweeping new laws were leaked on Friday by the ACT government and have sparked concerns among legal experts.
The Government last week said it would introduce the laws to parliament on October 31, but only allow the Senate one week to investigate them and report by November 8.

The Law Council of Australia said passing the proposed laws would push the nation closer to becoming a police state.

"We're moving down that path," council president John North told the Ten Network.

"The fact that the Government wanted to move these laws through parliament with indecent haste and without letting us as a Law Council or other interested people have wide community consultation means that we're very concerned about them."

Under the bill, people who support insurgents can be jailed for up to seven years.
Australian Federal Police will also be able to carry out what are termed preventative detention orders, effectively locking up people thought to be involved or to have knowledge of a terrorist act.

Suspected terrorists who are detained by police will be able to ring loved ones but not tell them where they are, while judges can stop suspects from using the internet or telephones.

Mr North said he understood that people were frightened about terrorism, but civil liberties had to be protected.

"We understand that the people are scared, we understand that terrorism is the major, major issue, but we must not take away fundamental rights without asking our government to assure us that we are going to be safe," he said.peThe Law Council president said he was particularly concerned about shoot to kill provisions in the draft legislation, and the plan to allow children as young as 16 to be detained without charge for up to 14 days.

Mr North said he was worried about the reaction of the government in the wake of the London bombings in July.

"Internationally it is really only lawyers who are trying to hold their governments to account at this stage," he said.

"We think the people will understand as soon as they start to see these laws misused and abused by our police and intelligence authorities."

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