NSW: Temporary Police State
To facilitate this interregnum of our civil liberties, the NSW government has enacted the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007, which contains a large number of worrying provisions, including:
The Police Minister may, by notice published in the gazette, declare any area in metropolitan Sydney a "declared area" under the act; [s 6]
The Commissioner of Police may, by written order, declare that any part of a declared area is a "restricted area" to which further restrictions apply. The Commissioner must take "reasonable steps" to notify the public of such an order, but need not do so if they consider it would significantly compromise security arrangements; [s 7]
During the "APEC period" (30 August to 12 September), police may, without a warrant and seemingly without any suspicion that the person has or will commit an offence, stop and search anyone in or seeking to enter a declared or restricted area, and detain them for as long as is reasonably necessary to conduct the search; [s 12]
Police may also give "reasonable directions" to any person or group of persons in a declared area; [s 14]
Police have further powers in relation to restricted areas, including the power to enter and search any premises (except residential premises) without warrant; and to require the production of identification from anyone in or seeking to enter a restricted area; [ss 21 and 22] The Sydney Morning Herald reports that police may require identification from people wanting to cross the road in some areas of the CBD.
Entering a restricted area without "special justification" (as defined in s 37) is a criminal offence punishable by six months imprisonment. [s19]
The Commissioner of Police can compile an excluded persons list of persons who they are satisfied "would pose serious threats to the safety of persons or property"; [s 26]
People who are on the Commissioner's blacklist, or who refuse to comply with a "reasonable direction" under s 14, or who resist being searched, (etc) can be excluded from declared or restricted areas for the duration; [ss 24-25]
There is a presumption against bail for certain offences. [s 31]
Several parts of this strike me as manifestly absurd:
There is no use in requiring identification from persons crossing the road in the CBD. It proves that they have identification with them. Big deal, so did the alleged London subway suicide bombers.
It is a criminal offence to be in a restricted area without "special justification", but the details of what area restricted areas are not required to be published or otherwise brought to the attention of the public. You can get six months jail for being somewhere that you didn't know you weren't supposed to be, without a special justification you didn't know you needed to have, because they didn't tell you (or anyone else) you weren't supposed to be there.
The secret blacklist of "excluded persons" is Orwellian. Such things should not exist in a democratic country. At the very least, the list, and the criteria for inclusion on the list, need to be public. If, for example, anti-Bush protesters are on the list, but pro-Bush protesters are not, I want to know why.
Sydney Airport has recently been gazetted as a declared area and media reports suggest it may also be a restricted area. This could be a nifty way to keep those undesirable "excluded persons" out of Sydney altogether. Just arrest them as they get off the plane, for being in a restricted area without special justification.
The presumption against bail could be misused simply to keep protesters or other "undesirables" locked up for the duration of APEC. Arrest them, charge them with assaulting police, "no bail for you", and then after APEC is done with, decide there's "not enough evidence" and let them out. Similar things have happened in the United States, such as during the Republican National Convention. In Sydney, 200 prisoners on periodic (weekend) detention have been told not to come in, as their cells may be needed for APEC arrestees. Numerous buses have been converted into "mobile holding cells". The police have spent $600,000 on importing an armoured water-canon tanker truck. It certainly seems that the police are gearing up for riots and mass arrests.
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