Terror Laws: Asio, Counter-Terrorism and the Threat to Democracy

The underlying concern of this book is the issue of balancing the needs for national security with individual rights and freedoms. Author Jenny Hocking argues that, in the light of September 11 and Bali, the security legislation proposed, and in part passed, by the Howard government compromises the separation of powers and individual legal and political rights. The theme extends throughout the book, and her discussion of the establishment and history of ASIO gives context to current debates.

Jenny Hocking is the Director of the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University. She is the author of the very successful "Lionel Murphy: A Political Biography" (CUP, 1997).

This title develops themes first explored in Hocking’s 1993 title, Beyond Terrorism: The Development of the Australian Security State (Allen & Unwin).

The book starts by defining terrorism, describes Australian and international experiences since the Cold War, and puts terrorism and counter-terrorism into contemporary contexts both in Australia and internationally. The book looks at some specific cases, including the Hilton Hotel bombing, the Communist Party Dissolution Bill, Yugoslav separatist bombings, the bombing of Family Court judges in the 1980s, the emergence of special state squads in the 1970s, and the expansion of ASIO’s powers since September 11 and Bali.

Foreword

Preface: Rattling the authoritarian cage

1. Terrorism, counter-terrorism and the rule of law
2. The development of Australia’s internal security arrangements: the precursor to counter-terrorism
3. Reassessing domestic security operations: from ‘subversion’ to ‘terrorism’
4. Counter-terrorism as counter-insurgency
5. The importance of being ‘terrorism’
6. Counter-terrorism’s first wave: the pretext of terrorism
7. Terrorism in Australia
8. The renewal of counter-subversion
9. Policing terrorism
10. Crisis management: securing the state
11. Terrorism, treason and tyranny: the second wave
12. From intelligence to internment: ASIO’s ‘new limb’
13. Counter-terrorism and democracy

Appendices

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index