Darren Churchill: Australian Democrats Campaigns

The Liberal Government and Labor Opposition have voted for draconian laws in the House of Representatives.

I can only assume the two of them will do the same in the Senate.

The laws will give the police and ASIO the power to trace our mobile and internet activity without a warrant. Court approval will not be needed, nor will there be supervision of the process.

Labor and the Liberal/National Coalition have teamed up on a number of occasions to restrict the privacy of citizens and this is the latest example.

It is yet another example of a Government that is no longer accountable to the people because of a majority in both houses of Parliament and an ineffective Opposition that says “me too” to the Government’s agenda, providing no real alternative to a tired old government.

As always, it is up to the Australian Democrats to speak out. But what has a minority party, which for so many years has been the conscience of the Parliament, been able to do without having the balance of power?

This mobile and internet tapping issue is a matter that should be of concern to all Australians.

Our Parliament, courts and security agencies need to be accountable. Our freedoms are precious and need to be protected, not given away through legislation that seeks to control the very people it is supposed to protect.

With an election looming and the question of accountability at the heart of our democratic system, we need desperately to restore balance to the Senate.

We need a third party that will make government by and opposition from the major parties accountable. And to enable a brake on extreme legislation.

We probably have nothing to lose except freedom from overly powerful government and stand to gain more credibility than the opposition.

(This is a reproduction of my letter published in the Canberra Times, 21 September, 2007).

The Access card is nothing short of a national identity card. The government has argued that it is not compulsory. However, citizens will not be able to obtain government health and welfare services without it. In fact, the Access Card website even states that from 2010, the Access Card will replace the Medicare Card. Effectively, it is every bit as compulsory as was the Thatcher government’s poll tax in the UK.

The Hawke government’s Australia Card in 1986/87 was considered such a threat to privacy that it was blocked three times in the Senate providing a possible trigger for a double dissolution. It was subsequently abandoned. The problems the Hawke government aimed to address with it’s Australia Card were subsequently address with the Tax File number, payment of welfare into bank accounts, the 100 point identification check. Photo ID’s acn be obtained, optionally, by anyone but they are not linked for access to anything (except perhaps in the case of driving or international travel).

The Howard government’s Access Card is far more of a threat than the Australia Card ever was. Modern surveillance technology, databases and photgraphic technology (biometrics) are far more sophisticated thatn they were in the 1980s – and the risks associated with them are consequently also far more sophistacted. Hackers, privacy concerns, monitoring of citizenry, the card becoming a domestic passport are all very real concerns and cannot be addressed by legislation. Even the best intended privacy legislation will not protect people from a more “power-and-control” orientated government than the current Australian government from increasing the scope and coverage of the card (function creep).

We mustn’t allow Australia to join such dubious company as Nazi Germany, occupied pre-unification Berlin, and white South Africa. I will fight to keep us free from an identity card.