It’s time. Time to review the draconian anti-terrorist legislation brought in by the Howard Government (supported by the present), which has been an open sesame for the abuse of basic human rights in this country. You have only to consider the treatment handed out to Dr Haneef, Jack Thomas and the 11 Muslims arrested onsuspicion of ‘belonging to a terrorist group’.
A variation often used is the vaguely-worded offence of ‘associating with a terrorist group’, which carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years. Practically anyone can be made to fit the charge and, like the unfortunate Muslims, be tortured as they were (locked up in solitary confinement 23 hours a day for two and a half years). When they finally faced trial they were as good as lobotomised.
Instead of ‘innocent until found guilty’, we now have ‘do the time while we think up the crime’. How can this happen in Oz? We condemn the Guatanamo Bay hellhole yet we have one right here.
Now, mad with hubris, our Government is about to let Big Brother loose on the internet, with the intentions of ‘cleaning it up’. Two streams of filtered content – mandatory and optional – will be under review. Which is which will be decided by ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority). Who is on ACMA’s blacklist is secret.
As millions of new websites are added daily, how can they do anything but make a hugely expensive ($44 million and counting) fiasco without a hope of even beginning to control the internet. All they can do (apart from ripping up the basic right of freedom of expression) is to slow down netspeed.
Marie Gordon, CLA member, Palmerston, ACT