Secret trials and imprisonment - Morrison govt now a totalitarian state

The 'centrists' who run Labor will insist on keeping them "because we'll use the powers responsibly". 3 years later the Liberals will come back and continue where they left off.

IMO Labor has a very strong incentive to abolish the powers. Doing so should expose all the LNP rorts... Paladdin etc.
There will be a queue a mile long (journalists at the front) ready to take a swing at the LNP should the powers be abolished.

Labor would be crazy to not take the opportunity to swing hard.
 

Herne Hill Hammer

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If he was a military intelligence officer, was he tried under a secret but very ordinary military court? or was he charged under laws relating to civilians (non-military) under intelligence statutes?

He's certainly not military if he's ASIS or ASIO. I'm pretty sure I saw something on this a while ago and he was ASIS.
 

donkeypunchd

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This country already interns people without trial overseas, and locks up indigenous people for debt, a practice even the Victorians saw as overtly harsh. The minister for Home Affairs has been pretty brazen with his contempt for the laws and equal application thereof to all citizens (au pair controversy a case in point), and given the increased vote share the Coalition won I think we can be pretty confident the majority of Australians don’t care about infringements in their civil liberties so long as the people suffering said infringements are bugbears of the Murdoch press.

A quick look at the current ‘religious freedom’ farce should illustrate this, as textbook a case of double standards and preferential treatment as one will find.
 

Lebbo73

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When Labor win the next election,
2FF33B62-0222-4517-AB69-10E8A8D50578.gif
 

Rob R

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With all due respect, he can't talk about it. He's bound by the secrecy of the court; it could've been the most raging injustice, or it could have been straight forward as all get out and due procedure was followed. With the court documents and trial being closed off to the public - ie, not transparent - how is he to let us know if this was a miscarriage of justice?

There is a reason the people who build this particular brand of representative democracy included transparency of process into the judicial system.
You do raise a good point, I assume that he has the right to say it was fair or not but not discuss the security breeches or evidence in detail. It is hard to strike the right balance.

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"The court determined, consistent with the Government submission, that it was contrary to the public interest that the information be disclosed and the information was of a kind that could endanger the lives or safety of others," Attorney-General Christian Porter told the ABC.

We ask our citizens to go to war and endanger their own lives and safety. We ask them to join the police, and endanger their own lives and safety.

If that is good enough for us, then the rest of us should be prepared for a bit less safety and a bit more danger in defence of the rule of law.
 
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We ask our citizens to go to war and endanger their own lives and safety. We ask them to join the police, and endanger their own lives and safety.

If that is good enough for us, then the rest of us should be prepared for a bit less safety and a bit more danger in defence of the rule of law.

Wasnt the law in operation here? The government made a request, a judge agreed.

D Notices have existed for decades. The issue these days is "the media" is now any idiot with a Twitter account. So what could be controlled would now lead to reckless blurtings from morons who dont know better, or worse, dont care.

So instead of a D Notice, the government now needs a judge to agree that the entire trial be held in secret.

Its been asked a few times, not sure if answered. Outside of the secrecy, is there any indication that this individual didnt get a fair trial?
 
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Wasnt the law in operation here? The government made a request, a judge agreed.

D Notices have existed for decades. The issue these days is "the media" is now any idiot with a Twitter account. So what could be controlled would now lead to reckless blurtings from morons who dont know better, or worse, dont care.

So instead of a D Notice, the government now needs a judge to agree that the entire trial be held in secret.

Its been asked a few times, not sure if answered. Outside of the secrecy, is there any indication that this individual didnt get a fair trial?
Rule of law, not the law as written.

We cannot possibly know if he got a fair trial as it was held in secret and the sentence was passed in secret.
 
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Rule of law, not the law as written.

We cannot possibly know if he got a fair trial as it was held in secret and the sentence was passed in secret.

So you're 100% happy with all trials not held in secret?

Did the lawyer go public and attack the trial proceedings and state their client was shafted? Or only complain about it being secret?
 

hanma

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Australia has been authoritarian since the 90's at least. People just didn't care or notice due to several factors.

- Australia has a small population, easily distracted and controlled.
- Americanisation of Australia through media and political interference to achieve above point.
- Unlike other countries, Australia never had to fight an oppressive government for its freedom. Even the Americans, as dumb and lazy as they are now, have the 1771 revolution to refer back to. What does Australia have? Nothing. World Wars don't count because every country had to fight off enemies during those years.
- Australia is in the quiet corner of the planet, away from the rest of the world's bullshit. We never had to struggle for our freedom, we've always had it easy, and our attitude of "she'll be right mate" helped us to become complacent.
 
Dec 12, 2007
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CIVICUS has downgraded Australia from and "open" nation to a "narrow" nation. Just highlighting a worrying trend of overreach by the Government. Even more worrying is that there has been nothing said by the mainstream media or the ABC. Only places I have found reporting this is The Guardian and the Human Rights Law Centre.

But no our government is too concerned with apparent need for "Religious Freedom" and waging war on "PC Culture".

 
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