Gabrielle Chan theguardian.com, Sunday 5 October 2014
Queensland Muslim groups want increased penalties for hate crimes linked to the introduction of national security legislation
The attorney general, George Brandis, with the new director general of ASIO, Duncan Lewis. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
The Queensland Muslim community has called for a lower threshold for arrest and increased penalties for people convicted of hate crimes that can be linked to the introduction of national security legislation.
A submission to a parliamentary committee endorsed by a large number of groups and individuals underlines how the current debate has inflamed racial and religious tension, with Muslims the main target.
As Australian Muslims celebrated the festival of Eid al-Adha over the weekend, community leaders gathered widespread support for the submission, which calls for increased penalties to offset the effects of the foreign fighters bill. It was signed by more than 650 people or organisations, including the Islamic Council of Queensland and the Council of Imams of Queensland.
“The groups of people who may be specifically impacted by these counter-terrorism proposals are currently likely to be Muslims and Russians/Ukrainians given the crisis in the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine respectively,” the submission says.
“This may be a different group in future generations. It is noted that while the government has gone to some length to show that the proposed laws are not targeting the Muslim community, the Murdoch press and other Australian media outlets have focused very strongly on Muslim groups and individuals.”
The joint committee on intelligence and security (JCIS) is examining the second tranche of national security legislation, commonly known as the foreign fighters bill.
Muslim communities were heartened to hear during talks with the attorney general, George Brandis, that the public would have a chance to comment on the foreign fighters bill. But as a result of the government’s insistence on debating the bill from 20 October, there have been only six working days for the public to make submissions, which were due by Friday.
As a result, only 11 submissions have been lodged on the parliamentary website and more than half are from government agencies or departments. They include one each from the attorney general’s own department, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the inspector general of intelligence and security, the Australian human rights commission, the Australian crime commission and the commonwealth ombudsman.
The Queensland community submission, obtained by Guardian Australia, appears to be one of only two submission representing the Muslim and wider community. The Queensland community leaders received an extension of time to submit on Monday.
The other submission by Australian Muslim Advocates for the Rights of All Humanity (Amarah) describes “serious concerns that these laws may infringe on an individual’s human rights, civil liberties and freedom”.
“We write to you with serious concerns regarding the potential violations of human and civil rights and the ramifications that this may have on the community by way of targeted profiling,” the submission says.
“We are perplexed to understand as to why the existing legislation, which are comprehensive enough are being introduced when the various state and federal police commissioners have repeatedly stated that there is no imminent threat to Australians in Australia.”
The Queensland submission takes issue with many sections of the foreign fighters bill.
It opposes outright the offence of entering a “declared area”, which would prohibit travel to conflict zones declared by the foreign minister. It calls for reductions in the proposed powers of custom detention times and the proposed 10-year sunset provisions on laws like preventative detention.
In its recommendations to combat race hate, the submission urges amendments to relevant legislation to “lower the threshold for arrest and increase the severity of punishment for criminals convicted of hate crimes and/or racial discrimination that:
“a) is either partially or wholly targeted at groups of people who may be specifically impacted by these counterterrorism proposals; or
“b) may be reasonably considered to have been influenced either partially or wholly by the introduction of these counterterrorism proposals.”
If an area is declared the signatories call on the government to declare the groups of people who may be specifically impacted at the time, so that it may be used in any future prosecutions in racial discrimination cases.
The president of Islamic Council of Queensland, Mohammed Yusuf, said the aim behind the recommendation on tighter race hate laws was to send a clear message from government that hate crimes were unacceptable at a time when there has been an increased incidence of attacks on Muslims, particularly women.
“We would like a clear message sent out that hate crimes are not OK and we would like to see stricter enforcement of the current laws,” Yusuf said. “Labelling a declared area is likely to influence public opinion on people from that area. This request would offer a little bit of balance.”
Notwithstanding its complete opposition to declared areas, the Queensland Muslim community wants to see greater clarification around how people prove their “bona fide travel” to family members in conflict zones and also details around the definition of family members.
“The current proposal is a significant restriction on a person’s civil rights, is disproportionate given the number of people it is likely to affect and implies that all non-family members in a declared area are terrorists in some form or another,” the submission says.
“It is ironic that such categories may include victims of terrorism activities or family members of victims who require moral and physical support from both friends and family.”
Yusuf said a plausible scenario that may arise where a friend of an Australian citizen living in a declared area may have lost a family member to a terrorism related activity.
“The proposed law appears to make visiting that friend a criminal offence for the Australian citizen,” he said.
The Queensland submission raises 12 “previously submitted queries (yet to be answered)” – a reference to meetings between Brandis and the the Islamic community on 17 September.
It says consideration should be given to procedural fairness, evidentiary requirements, “the erosion of citizens rights” and freedom of expression.
The joint committee is expected to report its findings to the parliament on 17 October, before a parliamentary debate beginning 20 October.
