Royal Exhibition Building

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Anti-Terror Laws

So, I never had a real idea about what I would put on this blog. For some reason it spans a whole range of areas...I didn't think I would mention politics and law having very little background in them (but I do like arguing the point).

But, the new anti-terror laws being rushed into Australian Law. I'm gonna say, 'very interesting', but this isn't going to be a rant, just some questions:

- How much will new laws actually stop terrorist attacks?
- How much will new laws actually stop this 'imminent' terrorist attack?
- How frequently will be they used?
- How many of our freedoms are being given up?
- How much debate has gone on?
- Is there a sunset clause?
- Who has overall power?
- Does the government actually see these laws ever been used?
- How do these laws correspond to other countries and what have their experiences been?
- Does the government have a clear mandate for making these decisions?
- How much do we trust Howard?

I mean, personally I am against these new laws in many senses, but in other ways they make sense. The real challenge to us is to never just ignore these things but to always question and think about them. Its part of living in a democracy. It would help if we trusted our government but....well...we will say Mr Howard is a political survivor and in the current fearful state of Australia he knows which levers to pull. It would be nice to see some real vision and inspiration in our leaders.

I know a bit of a cynic, but I'm still young enough to think of the future, and on so many levels I don't like what I see...but we will do our best.