The big question is why: who gains from this, where is the money flow for enacting this law? Cynically, I can't believe it's just to allow Abbott and Co to sleep more soundly each night.
Rationality is not this government's strength, and they seem to be aligning themselves on the wrong side of many issues. When you have the Rockefeller family switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy and the collapse of coal demand, the Abbott government's stance makes no sense at all.
That's a great question, especially in light of the fact that these laws have unanimous support from Labor. My best guess is that intelligence officials are pushing for the laws to make their jobs easier, and the politicians are afraid of ignoring their advice.
I had considered that, which points to some serious issues with what dirt on they have on politicians to give them that leverage. I wish I could ignore traffic laws as it would make the morning commute shorter, but the laws on due process are there for a reason.
As for Labor, Bill Shorten may as well be a Liberal, though I would have thought Pilbesek would have been more vocal in questioning whether it was necessary. I suspect the Royal Commission into Union funding plays heavily on the level of Labor opposition.
The Greens at least opposed it, but this legislation is a bigger threat to them along with their supporters. It will be interesting if they start branding activists as terrorists and whether it has a chilling effect on groups with serious numbers like GetUp who are a major thorn in the government's side.
They portray this as being in response to the latest terrorism news, but I suspect its drafting began at least 12 months ago.
Yeah feels like it has been rammed through before there is any time for current situation that they have drummed up with the raids and terror level to die down.
Between this and zero debate on whether Australia should be committing forces to yet another Iraq war the major parties power really needs to be cut down. If they just rubber stamp each others policies in these areas and they don't rate highly enough among the public as voting issues it really makes for a scary future.
It's the old classic: liberals (right-wing) are tough on <something!> and are the only ones who can be.
And so Labor (left-wing) are cowed into silence because they're not sure they want to fight that one out in the media (which, isn't unfair - if anything happens it's political suicide).
What you do have to remember though is no one really expected the Abbott government to be this insane. A ton of people who voted "not labor" were expecting more along the lines of he tries not to rock the boat too much. Not the "dismantle social welfare, raise fees on everything, screw the healthcare system...what I'm unpopular now? TERRORISM! TERRORISTS EVERYWHERE!"
A prominent liberal economist (I believe Dean Baker) once portrayed the difference between "Conservative" and "Liberal" as being paternal vs maternal in regard to Government's relationship to tax payers. The maternal was more nurturing providing a base of services to enable opportunity, where the paternal way was basically "man up" and get out there and help yourself.
Is it just about corporate espionage? They seem to be doing just fine as it is with current powers.
This legislation is something else. On one hand the new term ASIO affiliate would appear to extend Australian legal coverage to anyone ASIO determines to be operating in a recognised role. This would allow for example five-eyes partners to legally spy on Australians while ASIO can deny involvement of its employees.
The other possibility is that they are scared. The world is changing and consumers are starting to feel the pinch of 40 years of eroding job security and stagnating real wages. These heightened powers would give them legal powers to monitor and disrupt any internal dissent before it has a chance to disrupt the corporate structures. Good luck to starting any grass roots campaign that seeks to change the system.
No, it's political as well. Imagine knowing the talking points and agendas of politicians before an international political gathering. The Cuban Twitter program is another example of non-corporate use. Sabotage and owning of infrastructure as a deterrent is also popular.
Corporate espionage is huge, though. China is involved with enormous amounts of industrial espionage and the NSA specifies the Bureau of Commerce as a primary customer.
You may remember online porn browsing habits are collected by the NSA to discredit and blackmail leaders. Furthermore MINERVA and sister programs are used to seed and quiet dissent by serving targeted online advertisements and content. Many study the concept of "social contagion" - the idea that influencing a few key people who are key social figures can influence the behavior and beliefs of groups. PHK does a great job describing how problematic technological and incendiary political discussions are derailed (http://mirror.as35701.net/video.fosdem.org//2014/Janson/Sund...).
Rationality is not this government's strength, and they seem to be aligning themselves on the wrong side of many issues. When you have the Rockefeller family switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy and the collapse of coal demand, the Abbott government's stance makes no sense at all.