The word terrorism is derived from the French word terrorisme, and has been used frequently since the 9/11 attacks on the WTC. Despite its frequent use, Terrorism is generally used to refer to the committing of criminal acts by organized groups, designed to provoke fear in the general public or a group of people in order to achieve political objectives.
The key features of terrorism are violence, the use of civilian targets, a political or religious objective, and the group will usually claim responsibility. The largest and most well known terrorist group is Al Qaeda, responsible for the 2001 attacks on New York.
Terrorism has a historical backdrop, but modern weapons allow small terrorist “cells” to do great damage with just a small number of participants.
The most notable examples of modern terrorism were the 9/11 attacks on the world trade centre, the first and second Bali bombings, the 2004 attacks in Madrid and the London train bombings.
These catastrophic events brought modern terrorism to the forefront of western politicians minds, and highlighted the need for individual countries to respond to terrorism through public education and the creating of legislation to deal with terrorists.
Terrorism is fast becoming a global problem, and international bodies do not have the capacity to deal with it. Therefore, the responsibility lies with individual countries to assess appropriate ways of responding whilst considering the unique needs of their people.
The response of the Australian government to the issue of terrorism is similar in nature to that of the United Kingdom.
Unlike London, Australia has not experienced a terrorist attack within its borders.
Before 2001, Australia had very limited laws in place relating to terrorism. Since then, 26 different pieces of legislation have been put into place, and the government has spent more than 5 billion on counter-terrorism and security.
A key step in Australia's response to terrorism was The ASIO Legislation Amendment Act 2003, which gave ASIO more questioning and detaining powers. Specific pieces of Border security, aviation and maritime legislation were also created.
The most important piece of legislation relating to terrorism is the Anti-Terrorism Act (No. 2) 2005, which creates mechanisms for the government to list different security organizations, creates preventative detention, modernizes sedition laws and allows for control orders.
The UK legislation does allow for control orders, but clear procedural safeguards exist. The person affected by the control order is entitled to a full hearing in which the court hears evidence as to whether reasonable grounds exist and if each specific control orders are necessary.
Many new law and amendments were made in the area of telecommunications, with John Howard stating, “In the difficult fight against the new menace of international terrorism, there is nothing more crucial than timely and accurate intelligence.”
This idea also led to the creation of law that make it easier for law protection Authorities to collect information relating to terrorist attacks.
At the time of the London bombings, The Terrorism act 2000 and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 was already in place to deal with terrorism. The more recent Prevention of Terrorism act 2005 replaces section 4 of this act. The main feature is; like Australia's most recent anti-terrorism act, that it gives the home secretary power to make control orders on suspected terrorists.
The contrast between UK terrorism laws and Australia's is the United Kingdom Human rights act. This act ensures that other terrorism laws are evaluated by clear standards that protect individual rights and ensure that a proper balancing process is ensured. This also means that the prevention of terrorism act and any subsequent counter-terrorism legislation is subject to great judicial review and can be declared incompatible with the Human rights Act. Australia has no Bill of rights or equivalent documents.
Another difference is the “preventative detention” that Australia's legislation holds. ASIO already has the increased powers that the UK "detention without charge" allowed. Therefore the purpose of Australia's preventative detention is more to lessen the chance of an attack-taking place.
Public advertising campaigns are utilized by both countries. Australia launched the “Alert but not Alarmed” campaign in 2001, and Britain promoted the “That person is you” posters and radio ads.
The website of the Australian National Security contains similar information to the Terrorism information at the British government's website. They feature current security warnings, public notices and general information about terrorism laws.
The National security website includes information about the different government departments that play a role in responding to terrorism, including the National counter terrorism committee that was established on the 24th October 2002.. The role of the NTCT is to “contribute to the security of the Australian community through coordination of a nation-wide cooperative framework to counter terrorism and its consequences.” Representatives from many departments including the Australia federal police, ASIO and EMA meet twice a year. The response of the Australian and United kingdom governments to terrorism is similar in nature, but does contain some differences in the details of the legislation.
