And here come
Australia's draconian new "anti-terrorist" laws; not quite as
Orwellian as Bush/Ashcroft's power-grab, but still a worry, especially
surveillance powers. And life sentences for supporting terrorist groups could
be a concern, depending on how the government defines "terrorist".
(Greenpeace? Sinn Fein? Anti-capitalist protest groups?)
The legislation is expected to breeze through Parliament, with Labor pledging to support
it (and having an after-the-fact inquiry into it), and the Greens and Democrats
powerless against it (which, granted, is why the Democrats are so unexpedient to
oppose it.)