'Ill will' can lead to jail terms
By Samantha Maiden
October 15, 2005

SWEEPING new anti-terror laws include a plan to jail people for up to seven years for promoting feelings of "ill will" or hostility between different groups that would threaten the peace.
As John Howard yesterday defended the measures, the federal Government was angered by ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope's decision to publish the 107-page draft bill on his website.

Surprising legal experts with the scope and definition of terrorist acts, the laws would also make it a criminal offence to support a terrorist act, directly or indirectly.

However, elements of the terrorism advocacy provisions are expected to be watered down after a backbench revolt over the draconian laws.

Speaking at a Canberra mosque yesterday, Mr Stanhope explained his decision to support the legislation but also to publish the draft laws in defiance of a directive from Attorney-General Philip Ruddock.

"Today I invite Canberra's Muslims to see for themselves the draft legislation the Prime Minister has presented to the states and territories for their consideration," he said.

"I do not wish to deceive you. The laws to which I have agreed are unpalatable laws. They are laws I never anticipated I would be called upon to consider.

"I believe it is wrong and counterproductive for us to keep insisting that this behaviour has no causal links to our invasion of Iraq. I also believe that the anxiety and dislocation felt by some Muslims can no longer be seen in isolation from the West's behaviour in relation to Palestine."

The Prime Minister defended the laws, arguing that a one-day Senate inquiry into the sweeping laws would be supported by a longer period of parliamentary scrutiny.

"The essence of this legislation has already been approved by all state governments ... all of which I remind you are controlled by the Labor Party," he said.

The chairman of the backbench committee on Attorney-General matters, Liberal senator George Brandis, confirmed yesterday the concerns of some Coalition MPs and indicated that talks were continuing.

"The Attorney-General has already met the government backbench committee for six hours in the course of two meetings to discuss the draft bill and has shown a spirit of co-operation in attempts to meet the concerns raised," Senator Brandis said.

"Those meetings have not completed so I don't know what Mr Stanhope has published, but it shouldn't be thought that the process of consultation has finished."

Asked yesterday by the Howard Government to remove the draft laws from their website, Mr Stanhope's office simply replied: "It's not coming down".

President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, John von Doussa QC, also expressed concerns at the Government's plans to rush its new anti-terrorism legislation.

"We have heard much from the Government about safeguards that are to be placed upon these draconian powers, but it is only when the detail of these protections are examined through the committee process that potential problems may be identified," Mr von Doussa said.

"In my view, proper public scrutiny stands to assist the Government by ensuring that the legislation is properly drafted, thus reducing the likelihood that it will be challenged in the courts."

Related links:

• Draft: Anti-Terror Bill (PDF 331KB)
• Chief Minister: John Stanhope's web site

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16922905-421,00.html

what a crock, lol, shows the DEMOCRACY that we live in, didnt see them persecuting christians after oaklahoma...........just a thought

sorry guys this really get to me, what garbage

salams

I'm glad Mr. Stanhope kept the link on his site, have you downloaded and read the draft? Its 106 pages long, full of legal terminology... somewhat beyond my comprehension.

hahahaha ill will? gee guys dont think bad bout anyone or ur going off to prison...

a question...

there are now anti-terrorism laws in Australia? But I thought these laws have always been instituted. Do these laws now extend beyond the norm?

Does this mean, there might come a time when we may not be able to practise our religion because it might be linked to terrorism?

lol ryan them legal bills are drafted to confused everyone even the solicitors, and what not, aishahmoo the laws are pretty tight, and it looks as if it is the first step towards a system like Allah forbid france and holland, inshaAllah it never comes to that\\salam alaikum

i just read the terrorism bill...one of the first ststements is:


IF a terrorist attack does NOT occur?! someone gets some training that isnt in preperation for an attack?! um hello...did anyone else think this was weird...
another past that struck me..

b. he person’s act is not done in preparation for, or planning, a specific terrorist act"

does this mean if someone innocently does something stupid theyre a criminal? i mean will they be arrested for terrorism? what i want to know is what "act" theyre talking about...do they mean if someone accidentaly blows something up (which is fair enuff) or if someone says something stupid, or buys something that could be incriminating, even borrowing a book on terrorism from the library...?? another part of the bill is aimed at organisations that promote and advocate terrorism...gee, i wonder who is going to get picked on here???

anyway i think all these new "terrorism" laws and associate laws are going to make being a muslim in australia a lot harder. i mean i agree that there must be some way to inforce terrorism prevention in this country however i think the laws are blatantly discriminatory. i think its so obvious muslims are going to be the ones who get picked on. mosques are going to be under constant scrutiny, and i believe many muslims and people who are ethnic, or of arab desent are going to cop a lot of flack, even arrested for innocent things. i think the law needs to be re-worded...it just sounds...stupid to me. people are considered criminals even if they do something that isnt intentional? or they do something not linked to any terrorist act??? it make me mad to even think about what is going to happen in the future...

however no matter what happens i think to myself, and we must all remember that Allah test those he loves, therefore, this could be a test from Allah to see how strong we are, and iA he will help us thru.

basically yas if they get caught in a situation that makes them look like a terrorist the are datained until the results of a full background check can be obtained, and if ANY links to terrorist organisation are found they are detained for a period to be determined at a later court appearance, this is how i took things when i read them.
the system is a joke, and i be it traps more innocent by-standers than the actual culprits

salam alaikum

mick fair enuff if they ARE caught with links to terroism during a "background check" however training for no specific attack? i mean people who have no ties with terrorism can be doing something that looks suss, and after a background check nothing turns up, they can still be found uilty, coz by the new laws it seems u dont need to have intentions, or be tied into a terrorist group to be a terrorist?! i just want to know to wot extent these laws will be used..i mean bcoz we r a bunch of muslims on discussing these laws and discussing terrorism, does that make us look suspicious? are we going to come under scrutiny for talking about it???

more than likely yasja, but insha Allah it wont come to that, this world is crazy, and we arent helping things because we arent out there actually spreading our deen, because we dont know it well enough,

salams

i cant help but laugh...i have this image of cops raiding all users houses and taking their computers and stuff... know its so not funny but i cant help it...i just hope if these laws are all passed n stuff that peole dont get over excited and go crazy...i mean i can see people getting arrested left right n centre here...i can imagine the prisons beginning to look like a mosque with the number of muslims being help for questioning!!!

subhanaalah, i havent actually read the act but im sure its full of mumbo jumbo that wont make sense to me. however from what i have hard of it the new laws are discrimnatory and from yasjas and micks posts it sounds like they are not very fair laws.

The worst thing is with all the double standards here, so many muslim would go to prizon but at the same time so many non muslims who do same or worse things will get let off with no penalty. It's like that world wide. The other day some kid in the hills had a bomb he was making out of compost or something explode in his face, and thats it. Just imagine if he was muslim....

Someone like hicks gets thrown into a hell hall with out charge for years and the govt doeasnt care, but someone like Shapel Corby traffics drugs and the whole country fights for her rights, and now there are so many getting cought with drugs...

This country reminds me more and more of a Comunist country

it is getting harder and harder, and scary.

but i don't think it will b entirely muslims copping it, look at the innocent non-muslim man who was shot in london.

but yeh these laws could very well be easily taken advantage of, and that is wat is scary.

Aa

Honestly guys, keep writing letters to you local MP's about this, coz this is really really scary stuff. We have to put as much pressure on the Government as possible to show that we will not accept these types of draconian laws. The only reason why the Howard Govt. would even try to impose such extreme measures is to silence us. Also, John Howard being the rodent that he is commonly known to be, knows that this is a time where he could actually get through such extreme laws with very little uproar... the guys not a leader, he gauges and tests the public opinion to see how many of his conservative laws and policies he can implement. He relies also on fear mongering and deception to do this. It is even more scary now because he has so much power over the senate.

These are scary scary laws, and we really need to start writing letters and start letting people know this, or else there may come a time where writing anything of "ill-will" (and the courts could define that in sooo many ways) may find us in a position where we are writing letters to MP's from prison.

wasalam

i wonder how the future is going to be like here. All this is , though, bringing us muslims more close to Allah and more steadfast..IA