The Wire

The Federal Government this week has promised to introduce legislation that will allow the defence forces onto the streets for the Commonwealth Games if a sufficient threat is deemed to exist. Announced by Defence Minister Robert Hill over the weekend, the proposals have drawn plenty of attention as fears arise over search, and shoot to kill powers. With Labor firmly behind the proposals, they’ll inevitably be in place for the Commonwealth Games in March. While concerns were raised over civil liberties at rallies on the weekend in response to the overall counter-terrorism package that’s been introduced recently, Senator Hill’s proposed laws are actually not new, but rather a series of changes to the Defence Act that was put in place in 2000. This gave the military stop and search powers as well as shoot to kill, hence the changes now being proposed, while only adumbrated at this stage, are not huge, but questions remain over whether they are neccessary. Neil James is the Executive Director of the Australian Defence Association, an independent public interest organisation on defence issues. He spoke to Bill Birtles about what Senator Hill’s proposed changes could mean to the military being called upon for civil issues.