Anti Terror laws Terrifying

[Sagacious]

I have just finished thumbing through the Queensland Law Society/Queensland Bar Association commentary and response to the Anti Terror Bill (No.2).

Basically it comes down to this:

If you are suspected of cunducting or being involved in or with or consorting with suspected terrorists then all those basic rights that we in the civilisedc world hold dear to our hearts like being able to consult freely and frankly with your lawyer and being able to test the evidence on which the charge upon which you are being held is based and the protection from being imprisoned without charge and the need for charges to be supported by evidence.....GONE!

Forget it.

This is terifying.

It is such a departure from the framework within which the criminal justice system works it is very frightening indeed.

Read for yourself (.pdf File) (http://www.qls.com.au/dotnet/docs/BAQ-QLS-anti-terrorism-submission.pdf)

[Vardsy]

What about the sedition laws - how are they gonna work Saggy?

[Sagacious]

As I see it the sedititon laws that are proposed are a codification of the common law and state based criminal code provisions regarding sedition.

Admittedly I haven't reserched that point thoroughly.

[s3raph]

Its retarded, its not as if terrorists are the be all, and end all of problems in the world, I mean its not as if murderers and rapists are treated so hideously, and their crimes are on par with those of terrorists.

[Vardsy]

Muderers and Rapists don't create the same amount of blinded fear in the community that terrorists do, and Governements love to govern a society that is shit scared.

It is a fact - the more poeple are scared the less likely they are to oppose legislation - I am surprised the Howard Government hasn't said that the new IR reforms are a bid to fight terrorism :D

[gooey]

these "terror" laws are just that - laws designed to instill terror into those that the law has power over.

what pisses me off most about these laws is the Guilty until proven innocent clause: if you are charged with something under the new law you need to prove that you are innocent, not the other way around - as has been since the end of the inquisitions.

Also, in some cases, you might not know what you are being charged with, and under the law, NO-ONE (not your mum, not you wife/husband, not the police) is allowed to tell you what you are charged with.
So you are left to prove that you did not do something when you dont know what it is you are trying to prove you have not done.

I hate these laws also because they are confusing and make my head go around in circles whenever i think about them.