ABSTRACT
Australia came relatively late to enacting national anti-terror laws. It had no such laws prior to the 11 September 2001 attacks, but afterwards quickly made up time. New legislation of unprecedented reach has been enacted, including laws providing for: restrictions on freedom of speech through new sedition offences and broader censorship rules; detention and questioning for up to a week by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) of Australian citizens not suspected of any crime; the banning of organisations by executive decision; control orders that can enable house arrest for up to a year; detention without charge or trial for up to 14 days; and warrantless searches of private property by police officers. As these examples demonstrate, powers and sanctions once thought to lie outside the rules of a liberal democracy except during wartime have now become part of the Australian legal system. Not surprisingly, these laws raise important questions about the protection of human rights, and the capacity of the Australian legal system to operate as a significant check and balance in this regard.
