SIGN PETITION:
Repeal, don’t expand, ASIO’s authoritarian secret police powers
SIGN PETITION:
Repeal, don’t expand, ASIO’s authoritarian secret police powers
What sort of country has secret police who, without even needing a warrant from a judge, can interrogate 14 year old children?
Your country, Australia! Stop the bill to make these police state powers permanent.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No.2) 2025 expands the scope of the interrogation powers that turned ASIO into Australia’s secret police in 2003, and repeals the sunset clause to make those powers permanent.
Under powers passed in 2003, ASIO could forcibly detain and coercively question—meaning without the right to silence—anyone, even non-suspects and children as young as 16, in relation to terrorism.
These are powers that caused political consternation in 2002-03, and provoked Labor Opposition Leader Simon Crean to accuse Prime Minister John Howard of establishing a “police state”.
They were only able to pass, after 15 months of intense debate, due to the intense, post-9/11 climate of fear of terrorism, and the government’s flawed justification that ASIO needed the power to forcibly question even non-suspects, including children, without a right to silence in order to thwart imminent terrorist attacks.
Twenty-three years later, the scope of the powers have already been expanded to lower the age of children who can be interrogated to 14, and to include other areas of ASIO’s responsibility which do not have the same life-or-death urgency of an imminent terrorist attack, namely espionage and foreign interference; now a Labor government is legislating to expand the powers even further and to repeal the sunset clause to make the powers permanent.
In a quarter of a century having secret police in Australia has gone from extremely controversial to the new normal.
And it’s in that same climate of normalised authoritarianism that in January the government was able to force through a law in 24 hours, shredding all principles of civil liberties and due process, to ban groups and jail members, retrospectively and even without a crime being committed.
The Citizens Party emphatically opposes the normalisation of an Australian police state, and calls on all Australians to sign the petition and support the fight to defeat the new ASIO bill.
Petition Summary
We therefore ask the House to:
- Reject the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025; and
- Repeal all of ASIO’s secret police powers enacted since 2003 and return to the principle of civilian policing under independent judicial oversight.
(Click here to read the full text of petition)
To SIGN PETITION, fill out the form below and click Submit.
The fields indicated with * are required.
What sort of country has secret police who, without even needing a warrant from a judge, can interrogate 14 year old children.
Your country, Australia! Stop the bill to make these police state powers permanent.
Petition Summary
We therefore ask the House to:
- Reject the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025; and
- Repeal all of ASIO’s secret police powers enacted since 2003 and return to the principle of civilian policing under independent judicial oversight.
(Click here to read the full text of petition)
To SIGN PETITION, fill out the form below and click Submit.
The fields indicated with * are required.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No.2) 2025 expands the scope of the interrogation powers that turned ASIO into Australia’s secret police in 2003, and repeals the sunset clause to make those powers permanent.
Under powers passed in 2003, ASIO could forcibly detain and coercively question—meaning without the right to silence—anyone, even non-suspects and children as young as 16, in relation to terrorism.
These are powers that caused political consternation in 2002-03, and provoked Labor Opposition Leader Simon Crean to accuse Prime Minister John Howard of establishing a “police state”.
They were only able to pass, after 15 months of intense debate, due to the intense, post-9/11 climate of fear of terrorism, and the government’s flawed justification that ASIO needed the power to forcibly question even non-suspects, including children, without a right to silence in order to thwart imminent terrorist attacks.
Twenty-three years later, the scope of the powers have already been expanded to lower the age of children who can be interrogated to 14, and to include other areas of ASIO’s responsibility which do not have the same life-or-death urgency of an imminent terrorist attack, namely espionage and foreign interference; now a Labor government is legislating to expand the powers even further and to repeal the sunset clause to make the powers permanent.
In a quarter of a century having secret police in Australia has gone from extremely controversial to the new normal.
And it’s in that same climate of normalised authoritarianism that in January the government was able to force through a law in 24 hours, shredding all principles of civil liberties and due process, to ban groups and jail members, retrospectively and even without a crime being committed.
The Citizens Party emphatically opposes the normalisation of an Australian police state, and calls on all Australians to sign the petition and support the fight to defeat the new ASIO bill.
PETITION
Repeal, don’t expand, ASIO’s authoritarian secret police powers
TO THE HONOURABLE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
This petition of concerned Australians draws to the attention of the House that:
in a democracy under the rule of law, secret intelligence agencies should not have policing powers but should, respecting the Separation of Powers principle, provide intelligence to civilian police operating under independent judicial oversight.
Since 2003, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has wielded secret police powers historically associated with authoritarian police states, allowing detention and coercive questioning of non-suspects, including children as young as 14, without judicial warrants.
Extremely controversial when first proposed, the powers passed Parliament only on the government’s insistence they were necessary to thwart imminent terrorist attacks, and only after Labor added a sunset clause.
However, ASIO’s coercive questioning powers have since expanded in scope beyond imminent terrorist attacks to include non-life-threatening issues, while journalists who report on an ASIO operation can be jailed for up to ten years.
Despite its secret police powers, and despite knowing the perpetrators, ASIO failed to avert the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
Yet the government is now legislating to expand the scope of ASIO’s secret police powers even further and remove the sunset clause to make them permanent.
We therefore ask the House to:
- Reject the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025; and
- Repeal all of ASIO’s secret police powers enacted since 2003 and return to the principle of civilian policing under independent judicial oversight.
PETITION
Repeal, don’t expand, ASIO’s authoritarian secret police powers
TO THE HONOURABLE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
This petition of concerned Australians draws to the attention of the House that:
in a democracy under the rule of law, secret intelligence agencies should not have policing powers but should, respecting the Separation of Powers principle, provide intelligence to civilian police operating under independent judicial oversight.
Since 2003, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has wielded secret police powers historically associated with authoritarian police states, allowing detention and coercive questioning of non-suspects, including children as young as 14, without judicial warrants.
Extremely controversial when first proposed, the powers passed Parliament only on the government’s insistence they were necessary to thwart imminent terrorist attacks, and only after Labor added a sunset clause.
However, ASIO’s coercive questioning powers have since expanded in scope beyond imminent terrorist attacks to include non-life-threatening issues, while journalists who report on an ASIO operation can be jailed for up to ten years.
Despite its secret police powers, and despite knowing the perpetrators, ASIO failed to avert the Bondi Beach terrorist attack.
Yet the government is now legislating to expand the scope of ASIO’s secret police powers even further and remove the sunset clause to make them permanent.
We therefore ask the House to:
- Reject the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025; and
- Repeal all of ASIO’s secret police powers enacted since 2003 and return to the principle of civilian policing under independent judicial oversight.
