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Review on anti-mercenary laws
ATTORNEY-General Philip Ruddock today indicated the Government planned changes to anti-mercenary legislation to allow easier prosecution of Australians who served with terrorist organisations abroad.About time Mr Ruddock gave no indication whether that legislation could be made retrospective to allow prosecution of Australian terror suspects David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib. Both are in US custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after being detained in Afghanistan and Pakistan in late 2001. The Government has said neither could be prosecuted in Australia under existing laws. Addressing a conference on security and government in Canberra today, Mr Ruddock said such changes were urgent and pressing. "I am looking at amendments of the foreign recruitment and incursion act," he said. "The reason is quite clear. In looking at the matters of Hicks and Habib where we sought to see whether there was a basis on which they could be prosecuted in Australia for their behaviour abroad ... we found that enactment did not enable us to deal with a range of situations particularly where terrorist organisations are in fact instruments of a state such as the Taliban." Mr Ruddock said the Government was also considering legislating to toughen terrorist legislation in other areas. He said the Government was considering whether to create an offence of consorting with terrorists. While you are about it, why not throw in, preaching in favour of terrorism? Mr Ruddock said consorting with criminals was already an offence in most states and territories. "You would have to ask yourself if consorting with criminals is a more serious offence than consorting with terrorists who intend to target the civilian population," he said. Mr Ruddock told the conference the Government was also considering measures designed to protect sensitive security information which might be disclosed during court cases. "We have been seeking advice from the Australian law reform commission," he said. Posted by: tipper 2004-03-16 |
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