[tof] Fwd: SEDITION REVIEW

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: Robert Connolly <robert at arenafilm.com.au>
> Date: 4 November 2005 5:13:36 PM
> To: SEDITION at wired.net.au
> Subject: SEDITION REVIEW
>
> Dear All,
>
> As you may have heard today, the Attorney General Philip Ruddock has 
> announced that there will be a review of Sedition Laws in Australia 
> next year. This decision was taken after significant pressure from the 
> back bench of the Liberal Party.
>
> While it is good news, and shows that our efforts this week have had 
> an impact, it remains a concern that the Anti Terror Bill including 
> the sedition provisions could be passed on the assumption that a fair 
> and reasonable review of sedition will take place sometime in the 
> future.
>
> It is our feeling that the sedition provisions in the Anti-Terror Bill 
> should be removed in their entirety now, and the whole issue of 
> sedition be considered separately at a later date with proper 
> scrutiny. We have taken legal advice on this now from two different 
> lawyers who both agree that the sedition provisions (Schedule 7 of the 
> Bill), can easily be removed without impacting on the rest of the 
> bill.
>
> This would allow the significant human rights and civil liberties 
> issues in the rest of the Bill to be the subject of much needed 
> scrutiny at the Senate Inquiry in the coming weeks, without being 
> overshadowed by the attention given the sedition provisions.
>
> It would also guarantee that any review of the sedition provisions 
> happened BEFORE they are made law.
>
> We have been working on  media and political strategies that we need 
> to employ over the next few weeks. One of the simplest but best 
> proposals was to set up a web page, where we could direct the public, 
> the arts community, as well as media and politicians. This will be in 
> place next week.We discussed putting out a press release today, but on 
> further reflection decided that we needed to get the final legal 
> opinions in before we went ahead with anything, and also give every 
> arts organisation a fair chance to get across where things currently 
> stand before we did so.
>
> We will be in touch early next week with the details of a campaign to 
> support this position.
>
> Best,
>
> Robert Connolly and Richard Harris
> _
> Robert Connolly
> Arenafilm Pty Ltd
>
>
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