Australia pushes through counter-terrorism legislation

John Howard

CANBERRA - The government has been given wide-ranging new counter-terrorism powers after parliament agreed to changes aimed at cracking down on home-grown terrorists.

The terrorism legislation was rushed through the Senate yesterday evening after the government gagged debate on the bill.

The Australian Greens, the Democrats and the Law Council accused Labor of selling out civil rights by supporting the bill, which will give unprecedented powers to police and spy agencies.

The laws allow terror suspects for the first time to be detained without charge for up to 14 days and impose controls on their movement and communication for up to 12 months.

They also update sedition laws, give police tougher stop, search and seizure powers, and allow greater use of security cameras.

Government amendments included giving more time for businesses to respond to anti-terror financing checks, enabling courts to consider a summary of grounds when deciding whether to issue the interim control order and allowing greater access to lawyers for those facing preventative detention.

The commonwealth ombudsman will be given more power to oversee detention, detainees will have greater access to relatives and police will need to satisfy a greater number of grounds to impose limits on who a suspect can contact.

Changes to sedition laws will protect the publication of news reports or commentaries about matters of public interest.

The Australian Law Reform Commission will review the sedition provisions next year.

Prime Minister John Howard continued to reject suggestions the government was proceeding with undue haste to bring in the new laws.

- AAP