News Item: : (AUS) New anti-bikies laws allow 'secret evidence'
(Category: Biker News)
Posted by
Thursday 29 October 2009 - 23:30:58
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) says new laws to dismantle organised crime gangs will allow authorities to use secret evidence to put people in jail.
The State Government introduced a bill to Parliament yesterday to give police extra powers against the activities of motorcycle gangs.
QCCL spokesman Terry O'Gorman says all State MPs should vote against the new laws as it will let authorities use secret evidence to put people in jail.
He says a Supreme Court judge will oversee the system, but it is still an abuse of people's rights.
"It doesn't matter if God himself supervises such a regime - if the evidence is secret and the person affected can't know what the evidence is and cannot cross-examine upon it, the fact that it's a system presided over by a Supreme Court judge still makes it a downright bad and wrong system," he said.
He says the State Opposition and Labor backbenchers need to put a stop to the Bill.
"Draw a line in the sand and say we are not going to be part of a system for the first time in Queensland's history where people can be jailed on the basis of secret evidence, which not only the people charged - but also their lawyers - can never see," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/30/2728310.htm
This news item is from White Trash Networks
( http://www.bikernews.org/wtn/news.php?extend.8641 )
(Category: Biker News)
Posted by
Thursday 29 October 2009 - 23:30:58
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) says new laws to dismantle organised crime gangs will allow authorities to use secret evidence to put people in jail.
The State Government introduced a bill to Parliament yesterday to give police extra powers against the activities of motorcycle gangs.
QCCL spokesman Terry O'Gorman says all State MPs should vote against the new laws as it will let authorities use secret evidence to put people in jail.
He says a Supreme Court judge will oversee the system, but it is still an abuse of people's rights.
"It doesn't matter if God himself supervises such a regime - if the evidence is secret and the person affected can't know what the evidence is and cannot cross-examine upon it, the fact that it's a system presided over by a Supreme Court judge still makes it a downright bad and wrong system," he said.
He says the State Opposition and Labor backbenchers need to put a stop to the Bill.
"Draw a line in the sand and say we are not going to be part of a system for the first time in Queensland's history where people can be jailed on the basis of secret evidence, which not only the people charged - but also their lawyers - can never see," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/30/2728310.htm
This news item is from White Trash Networks
( http://www.bikernews.org/wtn/news.php?extend.8641 )