In late September the Australian senate passed legislation that would give its spies the authority to monitor the entire Australian Internet with just one warrant, while journalists and whistleblowers will get 10 years in jail for disclosing classified information.
The new law, amid growing concerns over the rise of the Islamic State, is the first of several tough anti-terrorism laws, which in effect are removing the very freedoms that extremist groups like ISIS hate. The new legislation is almost certain to pass the House of Representatives. The draconian legislation will make it very difficult for journalists to do their job effectively. The Australian Lawyers Alliance said the bill would have “not just a chilling effect but a freezing effect” on national security reporting.
Many are afraid that ASIO, Australia’s national security agency, will abuse the new powers. Lawyers, rights groups, academics and Australian media organizations have condemned the new powers saying that the bill is too broad. For instance, the bill does not specifically define what a computer network is. Since the Internet is a “network of networks,” the bill effectively allows the entire Internet to be monitored.
“ASIO will also be able to copy, delete, or modify the data held on any of the computers it has a warrant to monitor.” The government also wants Internet providers to store even the contents of communications for up to two years.
Attorney-General George Brandis said that, “in a ‘newly dangerous age,’ it was vital that those protecting Australia were equipped with the powers and capabilities they needed.” While the Attorney-General said that the new law’s provisions “have nothing to do with the press,” he refused to answer specific questions about specific examples.
Senator Ludlam said the bill was “scary,” and a “disproportionate and unnecessary expansion of coercive surveillance powers that will not make anybody any safer but that affect freedoms that have been quite hard fought for and hard won over a period of decades… I have very grave concerns about the direction that the Australian government seems to be suddenly taking the country,” he said. The government ruled out torture in the legislation.
Please note the changes can happen suddenly, as Senator Ludlam pointed out. Now that Australia has become a terrorism target, with some of its own citizens engaged in Iraq and Syria as foreign fighters, the Australian government has suddenly decided that it needs stronger unconstitutional powers. Perhaps the final movements of earth’s history will also be a sudden surprise.
The new Australian legislation, in effect, removes certain constitutional rights and freedoms of Australians in the name of fighting terrorism. The principles of western constitutions are being repudiated in reaction to the rise of militant Islam. See Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, and page 451.