Tough new anti-terrorism laws that are set to pass through Parliament virtually unchallenged contain provisions for national security authority ASIO to have little to no restrictions on who they spy on, when they do it, and from where.
The new laws – the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill – have been labelled as “urgent” by Attorney-General George Brandis and are being rushed through parliament, with a senate likely to pass the bill by early next week at the absolute latest.
But independent senator Nick Xenophon, along with Greens senator Scott Ludlam have expressed deep concern with the new laws, with Ludlam in particular claiming that ASIO has more or less bullied the Abbott Government into enacting the legislation, stating to Fairfax Media:
“I think this Parliament is being bullied to pass something in the heat of a national security crisis that we will later regret, as we regretted an earlier tranche of legislation that we passed in 2005,” Senator Scott Ludlam told Fairfax Media on Wednesday evening, before debate was due to commence.“
Australian Lawyer’s Association president Greg Barns warned that the new legislation gives ASIO almost omnipotent power in regards to accessing information, and freezes out civilians in the event of its mishandling or misuse.
“We don’t have sufficient privacy protections. We have no tort of privacy, meaning we can’t sue ASIO or anyone else if they invade our privacy in a gross sense or if they use [that information] illegally. You have no course of redress.“
The legislation deals with what exactly ASIO can access – and the manner in which they access it – under a computer warrant. Brandis has championed the fact that there is little-to-no restriction on the scope of investigation that ASIO can carry out, and that by using just one warrant, they can access information from multiple devices on a network.
In theory, this means that using just one single warrant, ASIO can effectively spy on the entire Australian internet. Which, frankly, is completely fucking terrifying.
The other concern is that the new legislation does not contain protectional provisos for people who act as whistleblowers, meaning the “reckless” – as the proposed legislation puts it – disclosure of intelligence information could soon carry a maximum 10 year jail sentence. This part of the legislation seems targeted at journalists, bloggers and officials – kind of an anti-Edward Snowden law.
Whilst there is opposition to the laws from the senate crossbench, with the Coalition, Labor and Palmer parties all backing it, its passing is inevitable.
Lock your shit down, kids. Daddy’s watching.
Photo: Krystle Wright via Getty Images.
