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Australia's Anti-Terrorism Legislation: The National Security State And The Community Legal Sector, Mark Rix

Mark Rix

This paper considers the implications for the community legal sector of the Australian Government’s recent national security and anti-terrorism legislation. Critics of the legislation have deep concerns that, by giving the police and intelligence services considerable new powers in the areas of arbitrary arrest and detention, it will lead to the significant erosion of rights and freedoms that Australians have long been able to take for granted. Other concerns with the legislation relate to the use of force, sedition, and legal representation for those held in preventative detention. In addition, the legislation has no adequate protection against the intelligence services …