Editorial: ASIO can now keep the peace *COREY*

Editorial: ASIO can now keep the peace June 28, 2003 The Australian

PARLIAMENT finally acted in the national interest this week and passed the ASIO legislation. Both Labor and the Coalition played politics with the bill for the 15 months it took to pass, but in the end they combined to provide Australia with an additional line of protection against terror attack. The new law allows people 16 years and over, who may have information on terrorist plans, to be held and questioned by ASIO for a week. For a nation with strong traditions of civil as well as political liberty this is tough stuff – but sadly suited to the way we live now. The Bali bombing last year demonstrated that religious zealots wish innocent Australians harm. We now know that the ASIO raids in October – criticised as heavy-handed at the time – broke up groups of Muslim extremists plotting in the peace of Australian suburbia. The grim truth is that there are people who want to harm Australians, both at home and away. The new ASIO powers are designed to stop them, and the infringement of the civil liberties of a handful of people is a regrettable price we must pay to defeat these schemes. In the parallel universe inhabited by the Greens and the Democrats – and their fellow-travellers – the ASIO law starts Australia down the totalitarian track. Yes, it is possible to paint an Orwellian picture of how these laws could be applied to unfairly target racial groups or to bring the power of the state to force journalists to reveal their sources. But opponents of the act do not say how many deaths in terror attacks would be an acceptable price to pay to protect the liberty of the friends of terrorists.

Whatever the opponents of the legislation think, this is no thin edge of the wedge opening the door to political prisons. ASIO can only hold people with the approval of a federal judge or magistrate, and must interrogate them in the presence of a retired judge. Anybody held for questioning may have their lawyer present, as long as that person is not considered a security risk. People can only be held for a week on each matter, and all questioning will be videotaped and subject to the scrutiny of the Inspector-General of Intelligence, the security service ombudsman. Importantly, ASIO's new powers only apply for three years and will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee six months before that. By then, we will have a better idea of how the terrorist threat can best be fought and whether ASIO's new laws have been abused.

Of course, none of these protections are good enough for the civil libertarian inhabitants of the parallel universe, where perfect peace prevails. But here in the real world, where too many Australians have already died at the hands of terrorists, the ASIO legislation is a necessary addition to our national security.

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