Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, Amnesty International and Liberty Victoria have criticised ASIO's increased terrorism powers after raids in Sydney and Melbourne yesterday. Australian Federal Police (AFP) and ASIO officers conducted raids on properties in Melbourne and Sydney but no charges have been laid. The Federal Government's anti-terrorism legislation is under review, though the Government has indicated it wants to retain the broader powers introduced in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Mr Fraser says he is concerned Australia is losing its democratic values. "You can be arrested because ASIO thinks you know something which you don't know and then your defence is to prove you don't know it," he said. "Well, how do you prove a negative? And how do you prove you don't know something if you don't know something in the first place?"
Amnesty International spokeswoman Nicole Bieski says the issue goes beyond ASIO's increased powers. "It's also into the criminal code," she said. "They've inserted terrorism provisions which are of significant concern to Amnesty and create some very uncertain and unclear offences. So we've been concerned for some time as to what's happening through the Australian political system in relation to the terrorism issue."
Barrister Brian Walters, a senior legal figure and president of Liberty Victoria, has also warned the intelligence laws are a threat to democracy.
Raids
The ABC was informed about the raids by a spokesman for the federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock last night but neither ASIO nor the AFP are revealing any details. Mr Ruddock has rejected claims that someone in his office has been leaking information about the operations. New South Wales police Commissioner Ken Moroney has also refused to provide any details. "The lead role in these issues is of course a matter for ASIO and Australian Federal Police," he said.
Details of the raids have emerged from unnamed sources involved in the investigations, who say the targets are Islamic extremists who were planning to attack Australian landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne's Flinders Street Station and the Australian Stock Exchange. ASIO was granted warrants to search and enter the properties, based in part on the surveillance of so-called cell members who had discussed the possibility of launching terrorist attacks in Australia. The Herald Sun today quotes an unnamed source who says the alleged cell members "talk like mercenaries looking for a war".
Professor George Williams from the University of New South Wales says without any information there is no way of testing whether ASIO is using its powers wisely. "The problem here is that when you're dealing with an organisation like ASIO, with very little if any external scrutiny, we're simply left to take these things on trust," he said.