Dangerous new surveillance law must be scaled back
The Human Rights Law Centre has expressed alarm about an expansive new law proposed by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton that would give federal police invasive powers to takeover people’s online accounts and monitor online activity.
Minister Dutton introduced the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 Bill to Parliament in December, stating the new powers were intended to help tackle serious crime. However the proposed law goes far beyond this scope and encroaches on the rights and privacy of people who aren’t suspected of having done anything wrong.
Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“The ever-increasing surveillance powers sought by Minister Dutton erode individual privacy and have a chilling effect on the exercise of political rights. Overly broad state surveillance capacity also disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities and groups.
“We are particularly concerned about the potential for these surveillance powers to be used to monitor the online activities of journalists and whistleblowers.
“The Morrison Government has consistently failed to ensure robust safeguards to minimise the adverse impact of new surveillance powers. This latest bill continues that deeply troubling trend.”
The Bill would give officers of the Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission access to three new types of surveillance warrants:
A data disruption warrant, enabling police to access digital data and perform online disruption activities
A network activity warrant, enabling police to collect intelligence on online activities
An account takeover warrant, enabling police to take over a person’s online account
“These new warrants can be used in relation to any offence that has a maximum term of imprisonment of three years. That is well below the threshold of ‘serious criminal activity’ which may warrant such significant privacy intrusions,” Pender said.
The bill also enables police to seek an assistance order in conjunction with any of the three new warrants. Assistance orders require a person to provide any reasonably necessary information or assistance to allow the police to carry out the warrant. Failure to comply is punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment or a $130,000 fine.
“Australians have an important common law right to freedom against self-incrimination. We are concerned that the assistance orders do not provide any safeguards for the exercise of that right,” Pender said.
“This bill has serious flaws that the Parliament must review and revise to ensure warrants do not unduly restrict fundamental human rights, including the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and a fair trial. The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the parliamentary joint committee to recommend the government substantially rewrite this new surveillance bill.”
Human Rights Law Centre’s submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) review into the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 is available here.
Media contact:
Evan Schuurman, Media and Communications Manager, 0406 117 937