Login
Lawyers Weekly
THE LAW SOCIETY of New South Wales has snubbed the state based legislation dealing with the Commonwealth’s anti-terror laws. The Society has argued that while the legislation is a marginal…
THE LAW SOCIETY of New South Wales has snubbed the state based legislation dealing with the Commonwealth’s anti-terror laws. The Society has argued that while the legislation is a marginal improvement on the federal version, the model is “fundamentally flawed”.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Law Society president John McIntyre said it was essentially a “watered-down” version of the Commonwealth legislation.
“The Commonwealth legislation allows a suspect to be detained without charge for 48 hours only. Anything longer would be unlawful,” said McIntyre. But the New South Wales scheme, which is not restricted by the Constitution, allows government to imprison a person for 14 days without charge.
“Neither government has provided sufficient justification for the draconian nature of these laws,” he said.
“The public needs to be mindful that once the anti-terror laws are proclaimed and our traditional rights are substantially compromised they will never be restored.”
