Australia counterterrorism
October 1, 2014
Australian parliament passed the National Security Legislation Amendment Bill in Canberra on Wednesday, which will provide the country's domestic spy agency, Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) with greater search and surveillance powers.
The government said the tougher counterterror legislation was necessary to tackle new potential threats, including those posed by jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq.
"We are determined to do what we must to secure our freedoms and to keep our people safe," Attorney-General George Brandis said after the vote in the House of Representatives.
Freedom of press
The most disputed section of the bill states that anyone who identifies an ASIO agent or special intelligence operation without authorization can be jailed for 10 years.
Amid concerns about its impact on press freedom, this particular change in law has been condemned by the national journalists' union, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, as "an outrageous attack on press freedom in Australia."
Brandis, however, defended the law, saying that similar provisions already existed in state and federal law for Australian Federal Police operations. "We're not changing the law, we're applying an existing law to ASIO," he said.
"This is not a law about journalism. It's not a law about journalists; it's a law of general application about the disclosure of something which ought not for obvious reasons to be disclosed," Brandis added.
The Amendment Bill will also enable spies to obtain information from "third-party" computers. Secret service agents will now be exempt from prosecution, on the condition that their actions do not involve death, serious injury, sexual offences, torture or significant damage to property.
High alert
Two months ago, Australia raised its terror alert to "high," due to growing concerns surrounding potential attacks on home soil, by citizens returning to Australia from Syria and Iraq.
As a result, the new counterterrorism law also includes legislation requiring people who visit "no-go" zones outside Australia, such as Syria or Iraq, to prove they were not involved in fighting or terrorist activities.
The Amendment Bill was passed easily on Wednesday, with only the Greens opposing the legislation, who, like the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, argued that the bill would damage hard-won press freedoms.
ksb/mz (dpa, AP, AFP)