Thursday, August 02, 2007

Australians All - 'Law Overboard'

The following talking point has been posted to the AA website:

"Some would say that because we live in a new age of terrorist threats, extreme measures are needed to protect our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life. But what sort of democracy are we protecting when an accused person can lose their liberty on the basis of accusations which are untested, and be given no chance to put their case before they are locked up?

It is not disputed that the government should be able to exclude people who have, by their extreme conduct, made their presence in Australia intolerable. However such cases are rare and the power of Section 501 [of the Migration Act] should not be abused by using it in cases where it is clearly not warranted. It should not be used as an alternative to the rule of law."

The full article was published by Eureka Street.

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