Australia

• 2006-01-03: The Militirisation of Australian Society
  • Australian society has become increasing militarised over the last 5 years. The most recent example of this trend is a new law being proposed, currently in the Australian parliament which, if passed, would make it easier to call out the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) to police and shoot Australian civilians.
  • The proposed law in the Australian Parliament, which is expected to be passed in February 2006, is the Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2005.
  • Under the amended legislation, the federal government may use the ADF to protect ‘Commonwealth interests,’ even if the State or Territory concerned opposes it. Furthermore, the ADF may
    • shoot fleeing civilians evading detention (something not available to the ordinary police).
    • may detain people without arresting them (something in practice used by the police, but they do not generally have the specific legal power to do so).
    • search premises and people and vehicles without warrants (thus avoiding judicial scrutiny)