Government conspiracy to subvert the Australian constituion: "Australia's heads of government joined in a shameless conspiracy to pervert the constitution by depriving us, the people, of our ancient legal protection from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment without trial. Strong words, but that is what has happened. When these new anti-terrorism measures become law, police can arrest whoever they like, people as young as 16, and imprison them for 14 days if they have 'reasonable grounds' for believing they pose a terrorist threat. What those reasonable grounds might be is anyone's guess. The fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence is out the window."

"On top of that, "suspects" could be tagged with electronic tracking devices or held under house arrest for up to a year, again without charge. This would be subject to judicial review but - and here's the crunch - a review only to determine that the letter of the law had been obeyed. The judge would not be permitted to establish if there was factual evidence for branding any person a terrorist suspect.

"Nor is there any mechanism to guard against these periods of detention, either 14 days or a year, being rolled over indefinitely. Detainees could be released, then re-arrested within minutes."

Having lost the basic liberty of freedom from detention without charge or trial, how long will it be before it is regained, if ever? It took but moments to lose, and nearly forever to gain or regain.

Government conspiracy to subvert the Australian constituion: "Australia's heads of government joined in a shameless conspiracy to pervert the constitution by depriving us, the people, of our ancient legal protection from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment without trial. Strong words, but that is what has happened. When these new anti-terrorism measures become law, police can arrest whoever they like, people as young as 16, and imprison them for 14 days if they have 'reasonable grounds' for believing they pose a terrorist threat. What those reasonable grounds might be is anyone's guess. The fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence is out the window."

"On top of that, "suspects" could be tagged with electronic tracking devices or held under house arrest for up to a year, again without charge. This would be subject to judicial review but - and here's the crunch - a review only to determine that the letter of the law had been obeyed. The judge would not be permitted to establish if there was factual evidence for branding any person a terrorist suspect.

"Nor is there any mechanism to guard against these periods of detention, either 14 days or a year, being rolled over indefinitely. Detainees could be released, then re-arrested within minutes."

Having lost the basic liberty of freedom from detention without charge or trial, how long will it be before it is regained, if ever? It took but moments to lose, and nearly forever to gain or regain.