In recent weeks in Australia – and indeed in neighbouring Southeast Asian countries – the news has been dominated by events in the Middle East and the danger from local terror groups.
The conservative government in Australia led by Tony Abbott has introduced two bills before Parliament to counter a potential threat from local Islamist radicals. Among its northerly neighbours, much discussion about similar legislation has been undertaken by Indonesian authorities. Malaysian authorities have made several arrests at Kuala Lumpur International Airport of Muslim citizens suspected of departing to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
The Australian legislation has attracted bipartisan support from the two major political blocs: the conservative Liberal/National governing coalition and the Labor Party opposition. This is a rare thing in Australian politics, with the preceding Labor government unable to win across-the-board support for its policies from its own members .
High level concerns
The new legislation reflects high-level concerns about radical Islamist activity within Australia. In September security services raised the terror threat level from medium to high, for the first time in Australia’s history. Prime Minister Abbott committed Australian strike aircraft to take part in American-led raids on Islamic State. In response, Islamic State spokesmen issued video calls online for Muslims to stage random attacks on Australian citizens. In Melbourne, an 18-year-old Afghan immigrant suspected of terrorist connections attacked two police officers with a knife, wounding both, before being shot dead by one of them. Around the same time, Australian security personnel carried out raids on locations in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, arresting several people on suspicion of providing active support to Middle Eastern terrorist groups.
No half measures
The new anti-terror legislation in Australia is not going about its task in half measures. Preventative detention orders, control orders and questioning and detention by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation form part of the legislation, as does detention of journalists who report on special intelligence operations. There have been cancellations of passports belonging to people suspected of planning to join terror groups in the Middle East, and Australians found to have gone to areas where terrorist groups are active could be jailed for up to ten years.
The new legislation has attracted 77% support, according to public surveys. Bipartisan support for this legislation from the major political parties reflects the level of concern among Australian authorities. Nevertheless, challengers to the new legislation are coming from civil libertarian groups and left-leaning political groups, especially the Australian Greens, whose Senator Scott Ludlam expressed the cynicism heard from such quarters: ‘Every few years the powers of police and intelligence agencies are expanded and widened to fight this war on terror; and every time we surrender some of our hard-fought freedoms, we are told to accept in good faith that these expanded powers are needed to keep us safe’.
Questions
Certain academics have also raised questions about the need for the new legislation. George Williams, Professor of Law at the University of New South Wales, commented that ‘In the main, we have the laws now to meet this threat’, while acknowledging that certain improvements could be made to existing legislation.
What is noticeable is the relative silence from church groups about the new legislation, though more may be heard in time. But Australian Christian newspapers have widely reported the persecution of Christians, as well as other religious minorities, by the oppressive Islamic State authorities in Iraq and Syria and, on this basis, Christian spokespeople have been cautious about making any statements that could be deemed to undermine the international campaign against radical Islamism.
Indeed, in a very encouraging sign of interreligious cooperation, certain Australian Muslim and Christian leaders issued a joint statement in September condemning the policies of the Islamic State authorities and expressing solidarity with minorities suffering under Islamic State. Signatories to this joint statement included the Grand Mufti of Australia, the head of the Melkite Catholic Church in Australia and New Zealand, the head of the Maronite Diocese in Australia and representatives from the Lebanon Fatwa Council.
With a reported 60 Australian jihadis fight-ing for Islamic State and a further 100 providing active support in Australia there are clearly grounds for concern, and the Australian political and security authorities have moved quickly to address these concerns.
