CCL condemns plan to let police censor the internet |
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Sunday, 23 September 2007 |
NSWCCL media release: 10/2007
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Earlier this week in the Senate, the federal Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan introduced legislation giving the Australian Federal Police the power to decide what Australians can and cannot see on the internet.
On 20 September 2007, in what was possibly the last sitting day of the current parliament, the Minister introduced the Communications Legislation Amendment (Crime or Terrorism Related Internet Content) Bill 2007 (Cth).
“This Bill gives police the unprecedented power to order the censorship of the internet in Australia”, said Mr Murphy.
“This Bill is leading us to a very dark place. A place where the police decide what we can and cannot see”, Mr Murphy said.
“The federal Parliament is supposed to protect our freedom, not give it away”, said Mr Murphy.
“The government has consistently refused to give the courts the power to protect our freedom of speech, but now it’s shown itself willing to throw our freedom away and give it to the police”, said Mr Murphy.
“This Bill is just unbelievable. This Bill does not belong on the statute books of a free and democratic society”, Mr Murphy said. Under the Bill, if the AFP Commissioner (or Deputy Commissioner or other AFP senior executive officer) believes that internet content (hosted anywhere in the world) is crime-related or terrorism-related, then he or she can order the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to direct all Australian internet service providers (ISPs) to prevent end-users from accessing the content.
Content is 'crime-related' or 'terrorism-related' if it encourages, incites, induces, facilitates or is likely to facilitate the commission of a federal crime.“The Bill gives the police unprecedented power over what we Australians can and cannot see. Once the police commissioner has ordered the filtering of internet content, then only the police commissioner will have the power to revoke the order. That’s what they do in a police state”, Mr Murphy said.
"It's unacceptable that the courts won't have much power to overturn the police commissioner's order to censor the internet", Mr Murphy said. The courts will not be able to review whether the content is actually related to crime or terrorism. The courts will not be able to consider issues of free speech (other than political speech). The courts will only be able to review whether the police commissioner had 'reason to believe' that the content was related to crime or terrorism.
“The time is long overdue for a referendum to insert a full Bill of Rights into the Constitution. Our freedom of speech is too precious to leave to the ‘protection’ of people who, like Senator Coonan, are happier abolishing our freedom,” said Mr Murphy. The Bill has only been introduced into the Senate. The Senate has not debated or voted on the Bill. The Bill has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives. If a federal election is called, then the Bill will 'lapse' and it will have to be re-introduced before a vote can be taken.
For more information contact: Cameron Murphy, NSWCCL President, 0411-769-769
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