The Next Step
As you may be aware, the Attorney General Philip Ruddock has announced that there will be a review of Sedition Laws in Australia next year.
While it is good news, and shows that our efforts this week have had an impact, it remains a concern that the Anti Terror Bill including the sedition provisions could be passed on the assumption that a fair and reasonable review of sedition will take place sometime in the future.
It is our feeling that the sedition provisions in the Anti-Terror Bill should be removed in their entirety now, and the whole issue of sedition be considered separately at a later date with proper scrutiny. We have taken legal advice on this now from two different lawyers who both agree that the sedition provisions (Schedule 7 of the Bill), can easily be removed without impacting on the rest of the bill.
This would allow the significant human rights and civil liberties issues in the rest of the Bill to be the subject of much needed scrutiny at the Senate Inquiry in the coming weeks, without being overshadowed by the attention given the sedition provisions.
It would also guarantee that any review of the sedition provisions happened BEFORE they are made law.
A letter went out to Members of Parliament today (click here to see the full text). Please use this letter as a starting point for faxes and emails to your own Member of Parliament as well as to key members of both parties (sympathetic backbenchers, minsters and shadow ministers). A full list of fax numbers and email addresses can be obtained from the House of Representatives link on the right (or click here to download a pdf file). It would be wonderful if faxes and emails could be sent by the close of business on Tuesday.
Those of you who are new to this site may also want to read the first two posts.
While it is good news, and shows that our efforts this week have had an impact, it remains a concern that the Anti Terror Bill including the sedition provisions could be passed on the assumption that a fair and reasonable review of sedition will take place sometime in the future.
It is our feeling that the sedition provisions in the Anti-Terror Bill should be removed in their entirety now, and the whole issue of sedition be considered separately at a later date with proper scrutiny. We have taken legal advice on this now from two different lawyers who both agree that the sedition provisions (Schedule 7 of the Bill), can easily be removed without impacting on the rest of the bill.
This would allow the significant human rights and civil liberties issues in the rest of the Bill to be the subject of much needed scrutiny at the Senate Inquiry in the coming weeks, without being overshadowed by the attention given the sedition provisions.
It would also guarantee that any review of the sedition provisions happened BEFORE they are made law.
A letter went out to Members of Parliament today (click here to see the full text). Please use this letter as a starting point for faxes and emails to your own Member of Parliament as well as to key members of both parties (sympathetic backbenchers, minsters and shadow ministers). A full list of fax numbers and email addresses can be obtained from the House of Representatives link on the right (or click here to download a pdf file). It would be wonderful if faxes and emails could be sent by the close of business on Tuesday.
Those of you who are new to this site may also want to read the first two posts.
