Terror suspects in Aus can now be detained for two weeks without basic rights; centuries of legal process undermined, says UNSW prof

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Our government had junked ministerial responsibility, destroyed a bulwark of the Westminster tradition, so that when things went wrong, ministers now looked to put the blame on a civil servant, wrote Professor Buckley, Faculty of Law, University of NSW in The Canberra Times (28/8/2007, p.11). “In Australia, persons suspected of involvement with terrorism can now be detained for up to two weeks without the right to inform their loved ones or have legal counsel. Imagine if your spouse or child simply didn’t come home one day. Imagine if your inquiries at hospitals and morgues came up blank. Imagine the soul-searing distress”. “Now warrants can be approved by senior police officers - the centuries-old role of judges cast aside - the police are now supposed to somehow police their own conduct. A system that worked very well has been discarded for one wide open to abuse,” Buckley added.

Basic legal rights: “Our government refused to request the return of David Hicks for five years. Under laws of over 800 years’ standing, Hicks had a right to have a court determine the legitimacy of his incarceration. Our government denied it to him. Five years without trial is an utter rejection of habeas corpus - the writ identified time and again as the most important safeguard of the liberty of subjects in our legal system.

Barely a peep of protest: “Yet there has been barely a peep of protest to this radical law. Why? Because we of Ango-Celtic descent assume (history would tell us, stupidly) that such powers won’t be used against us - but only against those of ‘Middle-Eastern appearance’. We have accepted the destruction of this right due to a racism we deny, even to ourselves.

Professor Buckley is at the Faculty of Law, University of NSW, and leader of the Security & Prosperity Program, Australia

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