Johhny Bega
A MEETING to determine the degree of concern felt within the community regarding the Government's proposed changes to the Anti-terrorism Bill will be held in the Bega Town Hall next Friday, December 9.
A meeting in Bermagui last weekend was well attended with people from as far afield as Batemans Bay and Pambula.
The meeting, convened by Laurel Lloyd-Jones, the executive director of the Elm Grove Sanctuary Trust, (a philanthropic foundation that works for human rights, social justice, the environment and the care of all people), was in response to anxiety expressed by many people regarding the changes and the effect that they may have on individual freedoms in this country.
The meeting was unanimous in the decision that a larger public meeting should be held as a matter of urgency to the public to be better informed regarding the consequences of the new bill.
The meeting will be held next Friday, December 9, at Bega Town Hall at 5.30pm.
Mrs Lloyd-Jones said she believed the proposed changes to the bill would change the texture of Australian society as we know it.
"My deep concern is that so many people are unaware of just how these new laws will impact upon their lives and their families," she said.
"No longer will evidence be required in order to imprison, detain and control a citizen, merely suspicion will be sufficient, and habeas corpus (the requirement to show cause) will be removed.
"Individuals will be required to 'dob-in' family, friends, or colleagues, and provide records about people.
"Such people will not be allowed to disclose this to their immediate family members or they will be liable to imprisonment for up to seven years therefore encouraging a public culture of secrecy and distrust.
"One can imagine the problems this would create in murder or criminal abduction cases as the new laws would make the local police, who will be told nothing, unlikely to act in the critical hours and days after such events as they could assume that such people were being detained under these new laws.
"Also, should one parent be informed, then they are unable to inform the other without being subject to imprisonment, and for example, should a detained person fail to appear at a Centrelink office then the family would lose their benefits.
"The Australian Federal Police are not required to reveal the reason for preventative detention of citizens and a person may be locked up for days or months without knowing why.
"A detained person will be allowed to contact one family member, or an employer to state 'I am safe but unable to be contacted'.
"Should that person disclose anything regarding this, they also may be imprisoned.
"No longer will an Australian citizen have the right to a lawyer of choice and all client-lawyer communication will be monitored.
"These laws will act to suppress public comment which is unfavourable to government policies or actions and under the proposed sedition laws anyone criticising the government will be subject to arrest.
"This applies to journalists, writers, cartoonists, comedy satirists and public speech or written comment by any Australian citizen."
Mrs Lloyd-Jones said that the Government's current track record and the complete rejection and ridicule of any opposing comments about Government policies by well qualified experienced and respected people within our community did not provide us with any confidence.
"The potential for future misuse and political manipulation and control of the Australian public and the media is a matter which should concern us all at this time," she said.
A meeting in Bermagui last weekend was well attended with people from as far afield as Batemans Bay and Pambula.
The meeting, convened by Laurel Lloyd-Jones, the executive director of the Elm Grove Sanctuary Trust, (a philanthropic foundation that works for human rights, social justice, the environment and the care of all people), was in response to anxiety expressed by many people regarding the changes and the effect that they may have on individual freedoms in this country.
The meeting was unanimous in the decision that a larger public meeting should be held as a matter of urgency to the public to be better informed regarding the consequences of the new bill.
The meeting will be held next Friday, December 9, at Bega Town Hall at 5.30pm.
Mrs Lloyd-Jones said she believed the proposed changes to the bill would change the texture of Australian society as we know it.
"My deep concern is that so many people are unaware of just how these new laws will impact upon their lives and their families," she said.
"No longer will evidence be required in order to imprison, detain and control a citizen, merely suspicion will be sufficient, and habeas corpus (the requirement to show cause) will be removed.
"Individuals will be required to 'dob-in' family, friends, or colleagues, and provide records about people.
"Such people will not be allowed to disclose this to their immediate family members or they will be liable to imprisonment for up to seven years therefore encouraging a public culture of secrecy and distrust.
"One can imagine the problems this would create in murder or criminal abduction cases as the new laws would make the local police, who will be told nothing, unlikely to act in the critical hours and days after such events as they could assume that such people were being detained under these new laws.
"Also, should one parent be informed, then they are unable to inform the other without being subject to imprisonment, and for example, should a detained person fail to appear at a Centrelink office then the family would lose their benefits.
"The Australian Federal Police are not required to reveal the reason for preventative detention of citizens and a person may be locked up for days or months without knowing why.
"A detained person will be allowed to contact one family member, or an employer to state 'I am safe but unable to be contacted'.
"Should that person disclose anything regarding this, they also may be imprisoned.
"No longer will an Australian citizen have the right to a lawyer of choice and all client-lawyer communication will be monitored.
"These laws will act to suppress public comment which is unfavourable to government policies or actions and under the proposed sedition laws anyone criticising the government will be subject to arrest.
"This applies to journalists, writers, cartoonists, comedy satirists and public speech or written comment by any Australian citizen."
Mrs Lloyd-Jones said that the Government's current track record and the complete rejection and ridicule of any opposing comments about Government policies by well qualified experienced and respected people within our community did not provide us with any confidence.
"The potential for future misuse and political manipulation and control of the Australian public and the media is a matter which should concern us all at this time," she said.
posted by professor rat at 7:33 PM
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