Fed: Student protests will come under defence laws: Brown

AAP General News (Australia)
08-29-2000
Fed: Student protests will come under defence laws: Brown

CANBERRA, Aug 29 AAP - Student protests such as that planned by the S-11 Alliance in
Melbourne would come under the government's new anti-terrorist laws, the Australian Greens
said today.

Senator Bob Brown said the planned protests against the World Economic Forum in early
September would come under the proposed laws which would allow soldiers to shoot to kill.

Thousands of students, some as young as 14, are expected to take part in the S-11 protests.

Senator Brown said every legitimate civil protest faced the threat of troops under
the laws that now appeared set to pass through the Senate.

"It's aimed at the S-11 protests, and it's aimed at the Olympics, and it's aimed at
every other protest that will ever take part in Australia where globalisation means there
is a rising tide of public rebellion against the power of the rich, the wealthy, the multi-national
corporations that are usurping democracy," he told reporters.

Senator Brown said amendments proposed by the Labor Party were weak and were not in
the public interest.

He warned that the Australian Democrats, who appeared ready to back Labor's amendments,
were being deluded if they believed they were satisfactory.

Democrats leader Senator Meg Lees said Labor's amendments were the minimum needed for
the laws to be acceptable.

She said there still needed to be a sunset clause to enable a review of the legislation,
while there had to be a requirement that prevented troops being called out to quell industrial
action.

"Most of these Labor amendments, particularly relating to industrial action that we
will never see the troops called out in an industrial dispute, is an absolute minimum,"

she told reporters.

AAP sw/cd/bwl

KEYWORD: OLY DEFENCE FORUM

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