Australian cabinet approves new tough anti-terrorism laws: PM

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, March 28, 2004

Australian cabinet approves new tough anti-terrorism laws: PM

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on March 28 that the federal cabinet had approved new tough anti-terrorism laws.

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Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on March 28 that the federal cabinet had approved new tough anti-terrorism laws.

Under the new laws, terrorism suspects would be detained for questioning for up to 24 hours, instead of four hours under the current laws, and it is an offense to train with banned terrorist organizations.

The new laws would also allow people to be prosecuted for being members of terrorist organizations, which are not listed on, banned organizations, said the prime minister.

"At the moment, it's only an offense to be a member of a listed terrorist organization," he told the Nine Network's Sunday program, adding that "In future, that will be extended to include not only listed terrorist organizations but also an organization that is in fact proved to be a terrorist organization even though it may not be listed."

The laws were approved amid recent concerns, after severe bombings killed more than 200 people in Madrid on March 11, that Australia is in increased risk of terror attacks because of its participation of the Iraq War.

A nationwide counter-terrorism exercise, Australia's largest ever, was held last week, with the aim of testing the country's security agencies' ability to respond to a terror attack.

The laws also would ban people from making money by selling books about their training stories with terrorist organizations, according to Howard.

"I think most people regard it as pretty offensive that somebody can be associated with a terrorist organization which has killed people, including its associates may have killed our people in Bali, and then they go and write a book about it," he said.

The new laws would go before a meeting of government MPs for ratification next Tuesday, Howard said.

Source: Xinhua

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