CANBERRA, Sept 8: Australian police will be able to use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on terror suspects, and detain people for up to 48 hours without charge under new security laws unveiled on Thursday.
Prime Minister John Howard said Australia would also make it a crime to incite violence against the community or against Australian soldiers serving overseas or support Australia’s enemies, under a law which will replace existing sedition laws.
Howard said the changes, which came after a review of Australia’s counter-terrorism laws following the July 7 London bus and subway bombings, were needed to give authorities “contemporary and necessary weapons” to fight terrorism.
Civil rights advocates condemned the changes and said the new laws could lead to people facing indefinite detention without charge, and could see people forced to wear electronic tracking bracelets, similar to those worn by prisoners on home detention.
“This raft of reforms is about removing any justice process and putting in place a system of administrative punishments,” Cameron Murphy, from the Australian Civil Liberties Council, told Reuters.
Australia’s Islamic leaders said the Muslim community, which believes it has already been unfairly targeted, was concerned the new laws would be used against innocent people.—Reuters
