Australia's Legislations To Fight Against Terrorism

Using the latest technology, Australian border forces and investing $35 billion, the government aims to reduce the threat of terrorism at our borders in an effort to keep our country secure.

In 1978, on Monday the 13th of February, Australia faced what is believed to be its first experience of terrorism, when a bomb hidden in a bin outside the Sydney Hilton Hotel exploded, killing two council workers and a policeman (Cahill & Cahill, 2006). At the time, the hotel was hosting eleven heads of government who were in Sydney for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (Cahill & Cahill, 2006). The Australian government reacted by mobilising the military, which came to be referred to as ‘Siege of Bowral’, that highlighted issues with the legislation that dealt with terrorism and how unprepared Australia was at responding to a terrorist event (Hancock, 2002). Over the following years, a range of legislation was enacted to handle matters associated with terrorism, laws such as allowing for defence to aid to the civil power, aviation and shipping safety, chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, surveillance and intelligence services (Hancock, 2002).

The case of Thomas v Mowbray revolutionised and created a new, broad, perspective of the constitutional defence powers in regards to terrorism. This was the first case to reach the High Court on the validity of anti-terrorism measures that were recently introduced to Australia by the executive. Thomas made several submissions within this case, including that the defence power was limited to defence against threats from foreign states and that the words ‘naval and military’ present in the wording of the section confines the defence power to those activities and cannot underpin broader activities to protect the community. Unfortunately, on the first point there was a 6:1 majority that the law was valid under the power for threats both domestic and foreign. Kirby J dissent held that the Commonwealth had essentially failed to establish the factual basis that was needed to support its reliance on the defence power. Further, Kirby J concluded that the ‘facts underpinning the war on terror did not constitute hostilities for the purposes of the first limb of the defence power.’ The majority of the High Court upheld the constitutional validity of the anti-terrorism laws that allowed for the courts to impose control orders upon persons of whom they believed to pose a threat due to their connections to listed terrorist organisations, regardless of the possibly that some derogable rights maybe be overridden. The control order imposed on Thomas required him to remain in his residence

So far, terrorism has been a key obstacle to many foreign nations, as they are struggling to prevent terrorist attacks. From the year of 1997 up to the year of 2003, international terrorist attacks have gone from less than 500 to almost 3000. Overall, global terrorism has grown by almost 1200% from 1997 to 2003. (Johnston 1). This massive increase in terrorism reflects on other nations' lack of control of the safety of their nation. These statistics also show that something needs to be done to protect the

Terrorism can be defined by Involvement of violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law. Australia is

Since 9/11, the Australian government has enacted over 60 counter-terrorism laws to assist in the fight against the rising threat of terrorism in Australia. This legislation has recently been brought into question given the rise of extremist groups such as Islamic State and the lifting of Australia’s terror level to “High”. Prior to 9/11 there were no specific laws in order to combat terrorism specifically in the Criminal Code. Australia’s national anti-terror laws are alarming not just in their volume, but also in their widespread scope. They include powers for warrantless searches, the banning of organisations, preventive detention, and the undisclosed detention and interrogation of non-suspect citizens by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). The progress of these laws though parliament was eased by Australia’s absence of a national bill or charter of rights. The fast enactment of the laws was also aided by an apprehensive atmosphere and a feeling of urgency. This quick enactment has raised concerns over the many years since the legislation passed regarding the facilitation of the rule of law given the extensive powers that the Commonwealth has in regards to national defence and security. One such example of legislation that has proven to be controversial and has drawn supporters and critics alike are control orders under Division 104 of the Criminal Code. The paper will assess whether or not

The purpose of the text by John Howard is to inform Australian citizens of the current situation of the possible terrorist threat that may face Australia and requests that all people report suspicious behaviour of those around one another to the National security hotline in which, all reported behaviour will be investigated to protect Australia. Uniting the community as one, to help protect Australia. The letter containing information of the counter-terrorism also includes reassuring information about Australia’s ‘strong counter-terrorist capability’ and emergency preparedness, to avoid panic from the public. The purpose of the text is to acknowledge Australia’s vulnerability to international terrorism following

According to (Omar Alnatour,12/09/2015,Muslims Are Not Terrorists), there have been over one thousand terrorist attacks in Europe in the past 5 years. And less that 2% of those attacks have been associated with Muslims. Even though this isn't directly related to Australia. This evidence provided isn't enough to convince Australians that there, not terrorists and are just trying to practice their religion

“Terrorism is a criminal act that influences an audience beyond the immediate victim”. A lot of the time when someone commits an act of terrorism, it is because they are demonstrating faith and loyalty to their religious views and beliefs, political, or ideological and the persecutors aim to intimidate governments and put fear into the eyes of societies. In Australia this year, there are about 7 known terrorist groups spread around the country. These seven groups in Australia at the moment includes: "Ahmed Y" group, Benbrika group in Melbourne, Al-Shabaab, Syrian syndicate, Cheikho group in Sydney, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Mantiqi (Jemaah Islamiah). All around the world, terrorism is growing quickly and it is damaging countries, communities and families. Something needs to be done about the issue and some people are already acting on it today.

As evidenced through the Parramatta shootings, which cost father of four Curtis Cheng his life, we can safely say, that terrorists do indeed pose a great risk to our national security. National security can be defined as the protection of a state, and its citizens, against both foreign and domestic crises. However the loss of Mr Cheng’s life, saw a major breach in national security, and signalled to the people of Australia, that we, are no longer as safe as we once thought we were. Furthermore, with the emergence of groups such as the Islamic state slowly infesting our communities, and brainwashing susceptible young Australians, the risk of a rouge citizen “executing” a terror attack, has never been higher. Now many may argue, that torture can not only be used as a weapon to gain information

Terrorism is the biggest global crime that has been identified in the 21st century. The United States is leading the fight against terrorism by striking terrorist targets all over the world. There are many countries that treat terrorism as a military action and many treat the crime as a police action. An example of this would be the country of Australia, which treats terrorism as a police action and the Australian Federal Police and police tactical force deals with the crime of terrorism, while Austria uses the EKO Cobra team and Austrian Military Police to deal with terrorism. In America, many

Terrorism is a frightening reality that all people in today’s world must face. While some areas of the world are facing terrorism more than others nearly are regions and all people are facing the violence and devastating effects of terrorism in one form or another.

“Things will never be the same.” (Miller, Stone & Mitchell, 2002, p. 3) Law enforcement has undergone dramatic changes as a result of the devastating events in the United States on 11 September 2001 (9/11). This essay will examine how law enforcement, specifically within Australia, has shifted its policies and strategies to fight the post-9/11 terrorist threat. An analysis of police actions towards terrorist related incidents since 9/11, displays how law enforcement agencies have demonstrated their

Between the years of 1969 and 1982, Italy suffered 4,362 political violence attacks and 6,153 unclaimed bombings against property throughout the state killing at least 351 and injuring 768. It took the Italian government 10 years to begin taking the threat of terrorism seriously. Prior to 1978 terrorist attacks were considered criminal in nature and were treated by police as isolated incidents. The emergency legislation period was then established to handle the rising terrorist threat. Several laws were created, which included Law 8 of April 1977 prohibiting an individual of wearing a disguise in public places or Law of 18 May 1978, which introduced the crime of kidnapping for terrorist motives. These laws were specifically generated and approved to help cope with the rising threat of terrorism. Special prisons were created from a new set of legislations dealing specifically with terrorist convicted of crimes or belonging to any terrorist organization. Legislation was also passed in 1980, which introduced the concept of preventive arrest. This would allow the Italian police to take an individual into custody based

Terrorism, which has been around for as long as people can remember, has been on the rise for the past ten years. Terrorists usually use murdering, kidnapping, hi-jacking and bombings to achieve their political purpose. For instance, according to Wikipedia.com (2006), in 1985 816 deaths, then in 2003, more than 1,000 people died by terorist acts around the world. In recent years, terrorism seems to be at a new height and attacks are much more violent than in the past. Unfortunately, in spite of many anti-terror campaigns, projects and organizations are being created for prevention (to prevent) terrorism, the number of terrorists only is increasing. These days terrorism is all over the world.