Australia, terrorism and throwing away the key

Australia is not unique in this regard. Indefinite detention has insinuated itself into various democracies, often on the pretext to target supposedly exceptional criminals. (The threat could happen here, so act now!) In the United Kingdom, a post-supervision regime exists for those convicted of terrorist-related offences, though these tend to take the form of less intrusive notification requirements.

In the United States, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 has been used to indefinitely detain US subjects suspected of being affiliated with al-Qaeda or associate organisations.

In a vain effort to repeal the indefinite provision last year, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington) suggested that having such a provision on the statute books was dangerous. "That is an enormous amount of power to give the executive, to take someone and lock them up without due process." Doing so "places liberty and freedom at risk in this country."

This highly troubling state of affairs betrays the flimsiness of certain protections, even in the United States. Australia has one less protective barrier. Unbacked by a spine of constitutionally protected rights, individuals tend to be at the mercy of supposedly wise judgments made by the prime minister and his colleagues. When that wisdom goes on an extended holiday, lawyers are usually left with minimal resources.

Such a program can also have another lasting effect. Far from protecting Australian society, which is ostensibly its aim, very much the opposite can take place. "Detaining persons convicted of terrorist offences for lengthy periods after they have served their time," argue Tamara Tulich and Jessie Blackbourn, "could risk radicalising a section of the community who see the measure as unjust."[1] Prevention duly becomes cause and catalyst.