Anti-terrorism legislation package being pushed through Australian Parliament

Australian Prime Minister John Howard introduced a counter-terrorism package on Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005.

The package includes bills that would toughen jail terms for inciting race hatred or violence against the community or the government.   The bills would also make it an offense to promote ill will or hostility between different groups or to assist an enemy at war with Australia.

New measures on financing terrorist organizations have also been included.

Under existing Australian laws, police must name the exact date, time, where a terrorist attack would take place before taking action.

However, with this new package, the police would be able to stop potential terrorist attacks without having to name a specific place and time for the attack to happen.   This would reduce the time before the counterattack takes place.

Offenders would face a seven-year jail term, while suspects can be held in preventative detention for 14 days, after which they can be placed under a judge-issued tracking order for up to 12 months.

The safeguards involved in the legislation include a three-month limit on 16-18 year olds.

Possible threat to Melbourne, Australia

The counter-terrorism package has been introduced because of a potential terrorist threat to the southern city of Melbourne.

Right now there are three suspects within the cities of Sydney and Melbourne.   The United States has identified one suspect as being linked to Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, having attended their training camp.

Australia classified Lashkar-e-Taiba as a terrorist organization in November 2003.

Critics Attack the Package

Prime Minister Howard would not release any specific details about the potential attack, leading critics to believe the package has been timed to distract from the government's industrial relations reforms and unpopular labor laws, which were introduced to parliament the same day.

Critics also note that there has never been a terrorist attack on Australia’s soil.

Howard rejects all claims of a conspiracy to mislead Australians about issues.

Australia 's security alert has remained unchanged at a status of medium.