the world changed...

There has been much debate over the weekend about the Howard Government’s proposals for new anti-terrorist laws.

It was sparked by the decision of the Chief Commissioner in the ACT, John  Stanhope to mischievously (and politically) post a private and confidential draft version of the proposed legislation on his website. Now that’s a leak!  This was after all State Premiers and the Chief Ministers of the ACT and the NT made a unanimous agreement with the Prime Minister to enact new anti-terrorist laws at an historic conference in Canberra.

What Stanhope did was brash and a breach of confidence and will make it hard for the Federal Government to trust him again. And he was always the least comfortable participant at the joint press conference after their joint press conference. Some leaders referred to the proposed legislation as “draconian” under different circumstances. Prime Minister Howard called them “unusual”. But he said these are unusual and dangerous times. And he is right. The world changed after 9-11 and the first and second Bali bombings.

We ARE more suspicious. Or we should be.  Prime Minister Howard was visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair around the time of the bombings on the London Tube. He was in Washington, with the Pentagon as a backdrop, when the suicide bombers struck there on 9-11.

I believe he has a genuine fear that Australia, although at the bottom of the world, could be a target. And it is not just because of our involvement in the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq. We became a target for Islamic extremists when we led the liberation of East Timor. And there was our involvement in the overthrow of the manic Taliban in Afghanistan. In fact, no country, especially no western country, is safe. Our western quote “decadence” itself is enough of an excuse.

Tough times call for tough decisions. But already the government’s planned new anti-terrorist laws are being watered down. As The Australian Page One headline today says: Backlash forces watering down of tough anti-terror laws.  And the opposition, apparently, is not only coming from civil libertarians, and some parts of the community. Some of the angst is coming from the government’s own backbench.

Why they are jittery I do not know.  The state premiers managed to get a sunset clause inserted in the proposed laws. A ten-year sunset clause plus a review after five years.

But, as I said, the world changed after 9-11. I’ll give you a small personal example. On Friday night, with a friend, I was dining at a classy restaurant in South  Yarra.  My friend noticed an unattended computer bag on a nearby bench. I alerted the manager. Would not have five years ago.

Another one. A friend was at the movies. A young man nearby wanted to go to the toilet and asked her to watch his backpack. She agreed. All the time he was away she thought: What have I done? What if there’s a bomb in there. 

As I said: Sadly…..life has changed. People like Osama Bin Laden and suicide bombers have stolen our innocence. And that is what they planned to do.

Monday, October 17, 2005

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2005