Terrorism raids in Australia

We have had our own terrorist raids in New Zealand. It was terrrible.

Coming from the Abbott government this was quite expected. Meanwhile the government is trying to make journalists reponsible for leaks of sensitive material and subject to jail terms.

The Australians will, no doubt, happily march into their fascist future

I wonder if this will frighten people here back into the arms of Key and his cronies

Terrorism raids: Isis 'urging followers to behead Australians', says PM

• 22-year-old charged with ‘preparing to commit a terrorist act’
• Plan was allegedly to publicly behead someone and film it
• More than 800 officers in biggest counter-terrorism operation
• 15 suspects detained
• Abbott: Isis militants urged ‘demonstration killings’ – video

the Guardian,

18 September, 2014

A senior member of Islamic State was urging a network in Australia to carry out public beheadings, the prime minister has said, as a suspect was charged after the largest counter terrorism raids in Australia’s history.

More than 800 police officers were involved in raids in Sydney’s north-west on Thursday morning with 15 people detained.

One man, Omarjan Azari, 22, appeared in Sydney central court on Thursday afternoon to face charges of preparing to commit a terrorist act.

The other 14 detained can be held for a fortnight without charge under Australia’s counter-terrorism laws.

The prosecution said Azari planned to “shock, horrify and potentially terrify” the public with public executions. He was refused bail because he a serious risk of failing to appear in court, in part due to his “unusual level of fanaticism”.

Defence have argued the case against Azari is based on one intercepted phone call, which the prosecution said was what triggered the operation.

When asked about reports that there were plans to conduct a public beheading in Australia, Tony Abbott replied: “That’s the intelligence we received.”

“The exhortations, quite direct exhortations, were coming from an Australian, who is apparently quite senior in ISIL, to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country.

“So this is not just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have,” he told reporters in Arnhem Land.

Abbott played down the possibility that Australia’s renewed involvement in Iraq would increase the chance of terror plots against Australian targets. He said Australia was targeted in Bali in 2002 before any involvement in the previous Iraq war.

“These people, I regret to say, do not hate us for what we do, they hate us for who we are and how we live. That’s what makes us a target, the fact that we are different from their view of what an ideal society should look like, the fact that we are free, we are pluralist, we are tolerant, we are welcoming, we are accepting,” he said.

“All of these, in their eyes, are wrong and that’s what makes us a target and that’s something that should never change about us. We should always be a free, fair, open and tolerant country.”

Abbott said he had not received warnings Australia was more likely to be the subject of a homegrown terrorist attack than other countries, but it was important security agencies were one step ahead of groups who wanted to do Australians harm.

Australian federal police Acting Commissioner Andrew Colvin said a violent attack had been planned for “the streets of New South Wales”.

There were reports the plan was to kidnap someone from the street and behead them while filming it.

The pre-dawn raids in Sydney were conducted at the same time as, but not directly related to, raids in Queensland with police saying the raids south of Brisbane were in relation to a counter-terrorism raid last week where two people were arrested and charged. About 70 officers were involved in Thursday’s raids in Queensland.

The New South Wales police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, said there was no need to “whip” up the raids and that the operation reflected the strength and capability of Australia’s counter-terrorism forces.

“Our police will continue to work tirelessly to prevent any such attacks but certainly can I stress that right now, is a time for calm. We don’t need to whip this up.”

Police search at a house in Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, Thursday, Sep 18, 2014. Police are executing search warrants in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt East, Logan and Underwood and have confirmed the operation was linked to the counter-terrorism raids in Sydney. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

He said it would become apparent through the courts what was going to happen.

Some of those arrested have had their passports cancelled because they were planning to travel to Syria or Iraq.

Twenty-five search warrants were executed in the Sydney raids which were in the suburbs of Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.

Colvin said the officers included investigators, forensic experts, tactical officers and surveillance officers.

“This is the largest operation of its type undertaken in Australia’s history,” he said.

“I think the message that we need to make clear here is that police are working very hard across this country and are very well coordinated and the community should have absolute confidence in the work of their law enforcement security agencies to work together.

“While the raids in Queensland are not directly related to what has happened here today in NSW, as I said before, the investigations continue and we are looking at the linkages between the two.”

Police would not say if the targets of the operation had any links to Islamic State.

NSW premier Mike Baird delivered warned would-be terrorists that there would be no escape from the authorities.

“We will hunt you down,” he said on Thursday. “If you have any intent to bring overseas conflicts here, if you have any intent to threaten the security of this community, we will hunt you down.”

The raids come after the terror alert level in Australia was raised from medium to high last week.

Police say the threat level was not raised because of the intelligence that led to Thursday’s raids. Colvin said it had been raised because of a range of factors.

When asked if the prime minister was aware of the alleged planned attacks, Colvin responded: “Clearly you would understand that all levels of government need to understand what the national security threat in this country is. We have regular and ongoing briefings with all levels of government including the prime minister on the generic aspects of the national counter-terrorism threat, the national security threat.”

He added: “I don’t think anyone would be surprised it’s in the interests that the PM and political leaders have an understanding of what is going on.”

Two men aged 31 and 21 were arrested in last week’s raids in Queensland in a joint operation involving about 180 federal police and Queensland police.

It is alleged the men were involved in recruiting, facilitating and funding people to travel to Syria to engage in hostile activities.

The 31-year-old, Omar Succarieh, was charged with providing funds to the terrorist organisation Jabhat al-Nusra.

Agim Kruezi, the 21-year-old, is accused of recruiting another person to become a member of Islamic State and obtaining funds in preparation for incursions into a foreign state.

The previous largest counter-terrorism operation in Australia was Operation Pendennis in 2005 when 13 men were arrested over planned bomb attacks in Sydney and Melbourne.

Journalists 'should not be exempt' from national security rules

Joint committee recommends some changes to allay press freedom concerns but does not provide explicit exemption

the Guardian,

18 September, 2014

A committee reviewing changes to Australia’s national security laws has rejected calls for journalists to be exempt from a new measure criminalising disclosure of “special intelligence operations”.

But the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security recommended changes to the Abbott government’s bill, including greater oversight of such operations and written confirmation that the director of public prosecution must take into account the public interest in publication.

The bill, intended to increase and update intelligence agency powers, would create a new framework for covert operations involving conduct that would otherwise breach criminal law.

These special intelligence operations would be authorised by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chiefs and any person who disclosed information about these matters could face a jail term of up to five years. The maximum penalty would increase to 10 years if the information could endanger lives.

Lawyers, news organisations and the media union raised serious concerns that the offence provisions were broad enough to capture journalists who published Snowden-style revelations considered to be in the public interest.

The parliamentary committee, which includes Labor and Coalition members, published a report on Wednesday saying it was not “appropriate to provide an explicit exemption for journalists from the proposed offence provisions”.

“Part of the reason for this is that the term ‘journalism’ is increasingly difficult to define as digital technologies have made the publication of material easier,” the report said.

“The committee considers that it would be all too easy for an individual, calling themselves a ‘journalist’, to publish material on a social media page or website that had serious consequences for a sensitive intelligence operation. It is important for the individual who made such a disclosure to be subject to the same laws as any other individual.”

Special intelligence operations were expected to be used “only in the most highly sensitive circumstances” and required a higher level of information protection than other operational matters, the report said.

The committee said it had “paid close attention to concerns raised by inquiry participants about the potential impact of the proposed offences on press freedom”. It said, however, that “in order to ensure the success of highly sensitive operations and to protect the identity of individuals involved” it was essential that information on these operations not be disclosed.

The report recommended some changes in order to go some way to allay the concerns over the prospect of journalists being jailed.

It called for the bill to “be amended or, if not possible, the explanatory memorandum of the bill be clarified, to confirm that the commonwealth director of public prosecution must take into account the public interest, including the public interest in publication, before initiating a prosecution”.

The committee also recommended additional exemptions to explicitly enable disclosure of information for the purpose of obtaining legal advice and in the course of inspections by the inspector general of intelligence and security (IGIS), an oversight body.

Other recommendations were aimed at boosting the involvement of IGIS, including a requirement that it be notified by Asio when a special intelligence operation was approved and when any such operation was intended to continue for more than six months.

Asio would also have to notify the attorney general and IGIS in six-monthly reports of any injury, loss or damage caused to a person or property in the course of these operations.

The government’s bill states that special intelligence operations would be approved internally in Asio by the director general or deputy director general of security. But the committee suggested that approval be obtained by the attorney general before an operation was commenced, varied or extended beyond six months.

It also proposed a requirement that use of force by Asio officers be reported to the attorney general and the IGIS within 24 hours.

In the interests of greater oversight at a time of major changes to national security laws, the government should increase funding to the office of the IGIS and should appoint a new independent national security legislation monitor as soon as possible, the report said. The monitor role was previously filled by Bret Walker SC but his term expired earlier this year. The government abandoned its earlier plans to scrap the position in the interests of “red tape” reduction.

The chairman of the committee, Liberal MP Dan Tehan, said the bipartisan report recommended the bill be passed but the 16 recommendations would give greater clarity and strengthen the safeguards and oversight mechanisms in the bill.

“The committee has sought to ensure that the bill achieves an appropriate balance between national security requirements and the necessary safeguards that the community expects,” Tehan said. “The committee has tabled its report out of session to facilitate debate on this important legislation when parliament returns.”

Labor welcomed the report, saying the committee had suggested “significant improvements” and the opposition looked forward to considering an amended draft of the bill. The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said security agencies needed the necessary powers to keep Australians safe but it was critical these powers were accompanied by proper oversight.

“It is now up to the government to respond to the committee’s recommendations and draft necessary amendments to the bill,” Dreyfus said. “For example, sections of the bill will need to be redrafted by the government to ensure that our democratic freedoms, such as freedom of speech and of the press, are not inappropriately constrained by the new laws.”

Comment is being sought from the attorney general, George Brandis, on the government’s willingness to consider the amendments.

The bill, to be debated in coming weeks, is the first in three stages of the government’s planned national security reforms. A second bill, expected to be presented to parliament in the next sitting fortnight, will seek to make it easier to detain and prosecute Australians returning from fighting with militant groups overseas and the third bill will legislate a mandatory data retention scheme.